


Cry for the Children

by Selaxes



Series: The Days That Followed [3]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Abduction, Character Endangerment, Endangerment, F/M, Gun Violence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Minor Character Death, Molestation, Slavery, Violence, Violent Crime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-03-10 09:35:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 16
Words: 56,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13499300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selaxes/pseuds/Selaxes
Summary: After an uneventful day on the beat, Nick and Judy are relaxing at home when Nick's old partner, Finnick, arrives at his door, bleeding and dying. What follows will drag the fox and rabbit into one of the darkest crimes possible. Before it's all over Nick will wonder if this latest case will cost him one of his oldest friends and his wife as they untangle the threads of yet another missing mammals case where all the victims are all young females.If any of the tags seem like something that might cause distress, I recommend that you possibly pass this by, and if any of you think that it should have other warnings, let me know and I'll add them in.





	1. Chapter 1

“I’m just saying that whenever the city’s quiet like it’s been for the past few days, something big pops,” Nick Wilde said as he turned the cruiser into the neighborhood that he and his wife and police partner lived, the streets of Friendship Plaza reflecting the relative calm that had seemed to descend on the entire city of Zootopia. “And when it does it always means that we have to deal with a big, nasty, stinking mess.”

Judy Hopps turned away from the passenger side window and regarded her husband. Over a year as one of the stellar examples of Zootopia’s police department had rid her of the small town naivety she’d first stepped off the train with. Almost a year of working with Nick had taught her to listen to her fox husband, his years of making a living on the streets as a con artist and hustler giving him an almost sixth sense as to pending changes. “I’m hoping you’re wrong, but my gut is churning, lover,” the lavender eyed bunny quipped. “Maybe you’re rubbing off on me, but to quote you, ‘I’m getting a bad vibe’.” She sighed and returned to looking out the window, the streets and sidewalks too clear for being so early in the evening. 

The fox made one last turn and pulled the cruiser into the alley garage that was attached to the building that held his uncle’s shop and the apartment he and his bunny bride shared. The sun had sunk far enough towards the western horizon that the alley was plunged into a twilight that was broken only by the fitful orange-yellow light of the sodium streetlamp at the end of the alley. Fortunately Nick had been able to install brighter LED replacement bulbs in the garage and the stairwell that led to their second floor apartment. Most criminal elements avoided brightly lit areas and the small digital cameras that were now a part of the entire building’s security system helped even more. At least they were things that the fox would have avoided in his previous life when he skirted along the other side of the law instead of supporting and enforcing it.

“I hope I’m wrong too,” Nick told his wife as they began to climb the stairs. “The problem is I don’t think so. My biggest worry is for you,” he admitted earning a slightly hard look from the bunny.

“I think I know how to take care of myself,” she said in a hard, brittle tone that could’ve cut glass.

“I know that!” the fox replied heatedly before taking a breath and letting it out as his paws gently grasped her by the shoulders and squeezed gently. “I, above all mammals, know you can handle yourself. But do you think that’s going to stop me from worrying about my wife? Hmm?” He smiled, a little of the old Nick, the street hustler coming out, a touch of smarminess to the expression as he gave her his half-lidded charmer gaze. “Don’t you worry about me? Even just a little?”

Judy lost some of the edge and rigidity in her posture, smiling as she leaned in close and gave her husband an affectionate peck on his muzzle. “I do, even though you’re just as good at taking care of yourself as any of us.” She took his paw and led him up the stairs. “C’mon you old smoothie. You can tell me how much you worry about me after we get a shower and I cook dinner.”

“You’re cooking tonight?” the fox asked with surprise. “You never volunteer to cook!” Surprise was replaced by suspicion. “Carrots, you hate cooking…”

“Maybe,” she replied with her nose in the air as if it were something beneath her. “But I like cooking for my mate…” she said, her head lowering as she gave him a warm smile and shake of her tail before dashing up the stairs.

Nick stood staring at his wife’s retreating, and very enticing, rump. He shook his head with a sigh. “Sly, and very horny bunny…” he breathed before following.

By the time he got into the apartment Judy was nowhere to be seen and he wondered where the bunny had gotten to when the sound of the shower being turned on made it to him. The shushing! noise of water splashing into the bottom of the tub made his ears perk fully erect and he smiled in anticipation. It had been a while since the pair had enjoyed a nice leisurely shower together and Nick reached behind him to lock the door before making his way to the bedroom and bath that was part of the suite. Sure enough Judy’s equipment belt and holster were on her nightstand, the uniform she’d been wearing in the hamper with a sleeve and pants cuff dangling over the edge. 

Not wasting a moment the fox undid his own belt, dropping it on the nightstand on his side of the bed before pulling off his own uniform after shucking the protective vest and draping it on the chair over his wife’s. Standing in a pair of briefs he walked to the bathroom door, his eyes bulging slightly as other parts of him reacted to the sight of his bunny bent over, her head to the side as her ears dangled all the way to the bathmat, a sparkle in her amethyst eyes.

“Oh, goodie!” she exclaimed, letting Nick get a good look at her with her tuft of a tail sticking straight up and twitching eagerly. “I thought maybe I’d have to try and wash my own back,” she teased before standing up and running her paws down the curves of her very feminine form. “Now that you’re here I think I’ll let you do it.” She pulled the shower curtain open a little, a cloud of steam escaping. “And if you do a good job I’ll even let you wash my naughty parts…” she added with a flirty, winsome smile as she held her lower lip between her teeth.

Nick almost broke his neck trying to get his underwear off before slipping past the plastic curtain to find Judy waiting for him with a giggle.

The hot water blasting down only served to bring the scent of his mate’s arousal to his nose and Nick wasted no time in holding the wet rabbit in his arms, his mouth finding hers in a kiss that was chaste for all of half a second before she opened her muzzle to him, the deepening contact allowing them to taste one another as their tongues twined and danced with delectable urgency. Judy knew by now how enflame her husband and took delight in being the model of uninterested restraint while they were on duty, but if she were in the mood, once they got home it was like watching a complete personality flip and the bunny would become a lustful, wonton creature.

Nick moaned as his wife’s tiny paws explored his body, her touch bringing him to complete readiness as his sensitive nose continued to fill with Judy’s ardor. He shouldn’t have been so aroused from the scent of rabbit pheromones, but the relationship between him and his mate wasn’t exactly what anyone could have called normal, and he found himself reacting to her as if she were either a vixen or he a rabbit buck. With a low growl of desire Nick let his paws run down her sides and hips before hoisting her smaller form up, his body slipping between her muscular thighs before finding her center with his maleness. He used the corner to help support them both as he began to thrash frantically, Judy’s paws and fingers wrapping themselves into the thick, rich fur of his shoulders as she rode her husband.

“Oh!..god…YES!” she panted, her eyes closed tightly at the delectable pummeling, encouraging her mate while behind him her legs stuck out straight, her toes splayed at the sinful delight that filled her. “Yessss…Nick! YES!”

Without any prompting the fox opened his maw and wrapped it around the bunny’s delicate throat, his teeth and fangs grazing her fevered skin beneath the sodden outer layer of her fur, his tongue exploding with the taste of her lust and sweet musk. When he growled with the joy of feeling her in his mouth even as he was engulfed by her body, the feel and sound sent his beloved over the edge into ecstatic bliss that ripped a gasping, soft scream from her. Her sound, that of prey, stroked the primitive part of his own brain and combined with the lust that filled his loins brought him to the pinnacle of pleasure just behind his wife and Nick followed Judy into the timeless moment where the entire universe became a white hot point of all things sensual before exploding into a million stars.

Releasing the grip on her throat with his mouth, Nick pulled back as he let them sink to the bottom of the tub, both panting with the frantic lovemaking as they gazed at each other, identical grins on their muzzles.

Judy stroked the spiky fur of her husband’s face, her vision still not quite focused with the power of her orgasm and chuckled breathlessly. “W-wow…” she husked. “Sorry. I’ve…been feeling a bit…pent up all…day…” she got out between breaths, her heaving chest having the added benefit of rubbing her damp, warm breasts against the fox.

“I know,” Nick breathed as he finally withdrew from his mate’s most intimate embrace with a slight wince of delicious soreness. “I’ve been smelling it all day…”

Judy lowered her head shyly. “I…I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean-“

Nick silenced her with a lingering kiss that left her breathless once more when he pulled back. “Don’t apologize for something you don’t control,” he told his wife with a smile. “We just need to remember to stock up on protein shakes for me before the next time otherwise I won’t be able to keep up.”

“You’re too good to me,” the bunny said as she continued to touch her fox, wonder in her eyes and a warmth in her heart for her mate.

“No more so than you are to me,” Nick answered back. “Now then, I think you earned that back wash,” he told her as he helped his wife regain her feet, keeping a hold of her until he was sure she wouldn’t topple as much as her legs were shaking.

Keeping true to his word, Nick picked up one of the greatest inventions he’d ever seen next to the full size fur dryer in the corner of the bathroom and grabbed the shower head and hose that was attached to it. While it functioned like a regular nozzle the end was meant to fit into a special brush that he clicked on. Instantly the brush began to foam with the body wash and conditioner both liked that the brush held in a reservoir, the plant extract base and conditioner cleaning both while helping to provide healthy coats of fur and moisturizing skin. The stiff bristles also pulled loose fur out while massaging the skin beneath. It got both of them clean as much as it massaged and Judy loved the thing. It was even better when her fox used it on her.

As for Nick, he had fun using the shower brush on his wife, the way it made her fur sleek and soft afterwards, but the reaction while he ran it down her body in long strokes was even better, the small sounds of pleasure nothing like they would be when he did her feet.

“You’re going to turn me into a complete hedonist,” Judy husked as she propped herself on the tile of the wall, arching into the feel of the brush as Nick pulled it through the fur of her back and sides.

The fox couldn’t help but smile. “I like spoiling you. You’re worth it, dumb bunny…” he said as he planted a kiss to the back of her very wet ear. When he got to the ends of her legs he tapped her ankle so she’d lift her foot and began to clean that, taking a little extra time to work into the pads of her toes, getting between them while also massaging them with his thumb.

“Ooooh…” the bunny sighed happily. “I think I just had a toe-gasm…”

Nick fumbled the hose at that, snorting in for a laugh right as the water blasted him in the face. He sputtered in discomfort as water went up his nose and down his throat and strangled and tried to continue laughing at the same time before a concerned Judy thumped him on the back. “Thanks…” he managed, still chuckling as he shook his head. “Really? Toe-gasm?”

“If you knew just how good that felt you wouldn’t be giving me that look!” she said defensively. “Here. I’ll show you!” Judy proclaimed and took the shower hose and hauled his foot up.

It wasn’t the most dignified position but he had to admit that it did feel good. Really good, in fact. His eyes widened. “Okay,” he said in a soft voice, wriggling his toes happily. “That’s…yeah. Oh, yeah…”

“See?” the bunny said with a satisfied smirk. “Toe-gasm!” When she thought Nick had enough she used the brush on him, only two things causing her difficulty and that was her mate’s greater height and the brush of his tail. Once finished she rinsed off and started to exit the shower. “Take your time, lover. I’m going to go get dinner set up. Would you like a cold beer with it?”

“Do you mind?”

Judy shook her head. “I don’t think it’ll hamper us too much in the morning so long as we only have one or two each.” She pinched his chin between her thumb and forefinger and pulled him close for a kiss. “Besides, I might need you all relaxed. If my cycle’s starting I might need a little special attention a time or two more before I can get to sleep.”

“Wow. Dinner and dessert!” Nick said with a leering grin. “Now who’s getting spoiled?”

“Dirty fox,” Judy muttered with a laugh.

“Horny bunny,” he retorted.

Judy paused and shot back her best impersonation of her husband’s smarmiest grin. “Why, yes. Yes I am!”

With a chuckle the fox went back to using the shower brush to work a little extra tension out of his shoulders before using it on his side that would forever be scarred from catching a shell of birdshot from a shotgun. His armor hadn’t quite covered him the way it was supposed to and he’d gotten over two dozen pellets embedded in his flesh. As far as injuries went it hadn’t been too bad, but the resulting scar tissue made the muscles tighten up in side from time to time. He sighed as the hot water caused things to loosen up and smiled as Judy switched off the fur dryer.

After ten more minutes he made sure that he was rinsed fully before shutting off the water and putting the nozzle and brush in their places before grabbing a plastic blade shaped wick to get most of the residual water out of his fur. Once that was one he stepped into the dryer and let it envelop him in a cyclone of warm air that blasted the remaining moisture out. Once assured that he was fully dry, not wanting to sit on the furniture with damp fur as it could easily cause mildew, the fox stepped out and grabbed a clean T-shirt and pair of baggy gym shorts. 

As he stepped out of the bedroom he saw that Judy was dressed similarly, though her T-shirt had been ripped in half to expose her flat belly beneath the swell of her modest chest and the shorts she had on were high, tight and showed off her curves and cottontail puff in a manner that caused Nick to seriously appreciate the view.

“Well, I don’t know about dinner, but I’m liking what’s for dessert,” the fox said.

Judy ignored him and he stepped closer, leaning his elbows on the divider counter that separated the kitchen from the rest of the apartment. His eyebrows knit together slightly.

“I wonder how that would go with whipped cream on it?” he quipped with still no answer. 

Then he watched as the bunny began to sway her hips from side to side, her motions making it look like she was…dancing. Now Nick was perplexed because there wasn’t any music. Then her swaying became even more suggestive and instead of pinching together his eyebrows shot up as his mouth fell open. The display continued and got more seductive by the moment as she worked on supper, her body hiding whatever it was she was making until she turned around to find her husband staring at her with a stupefied grin splitting his muzzle.

“Aaaaiiiiieeeeeee!” Judy screeched, one paw yanking the buds that she’d been listening to her iCarrot with out of her ears while the other went to her chest, a look of irritation on her face. “Damn it, Nick! You scared the hell out of me!”

He pointed with both paws held like pistols to the sound system that had been given to them as a wedding present from Mr. Big. “We have a stereo, Carrots,” he deadpanned. “And while we’re at it, where did you learn to dance like that?”

“Did you like it?” the bunny asked with a smirk.

“Um…yeah. Especially as my shorts look like I’m wearing a circus tent right now, I’d have to say yes. Yes I did.”

Judy turned back around to whatever she’d been working on. “Chryssie’s been teaching me. She said I was a natural and suggested that maybe we could put a dancing pole in the bedroom and-“

“Um. No,” Nick cut her off while shaking his head.

“Aww, why not?”

“Um…well, because…” he muttered, wondering himself why he’d said no.

“I could show you what I’ve been learning,” Judy told him teasingly. “Besides, why shouldn’t I be able to dance for my darling husband?” she asked with a patently false smile as she batted her eyes at the fox over her shoulder. “I could do a little strip tease…get you all worked up,” she said with a tail shake. “I like seeing you all hot and your fur all ruffled!” the bunny said with a giggle.

“I’ll think about it,” Nick relented. “What are you making for dinner? It smells good!”

Judy held up a finger before going to work with a medium sized knife, slicing whatever she’d been preparing carefully. After several cuts and arranging things she turned around with a wooden tray that had a good two dozen thick disks on it, the outsides dark while the inner portions were white with spots of bright colors. She put it down in front of her husband with a proud tilt to her chin and a sparkle in her eyes.

“You made nigiri rolls!” Nick exclaimed. “Where’s you learn to do that?”

“Chryssie!” they both said at the same time causing each of them to chuckle. “She’s a sweet girl. When you had to stay late last week to do your bi-annual re-qualifications we met up at the gym. We’ve been hanging out and she really is talented and sweet. She said she’d teach me how to cook Japanese style and I could teach her self-defense. And as you already know she’s been teaching me to dance.”

“She is pretty cool. I just hope Finnick doesn’t scare her off. He can be a little volatile sometimes,” the fox said as he carried the tray to the living room while Judy got little bowls of soy sauce and wasabi for them as well as chopsticks.

“I don’t think you have to worry about that. She was telling me all about how Finn treats her. To be honest it sounded a lot like how you treat me,” Judy said as she jumped up onto the couch and got settled. “Do you…do you think he’s found his mate?”

Nick thought about it, his mouth forming a tight line. “He might…I know he’s never really been interested in any vixen…ever. Maybe he’s bonding to Chryssie.”

Judy smiled. “What are the chances that they might be like us? I mean, I’ve seen online that a couple of support sites for pred-prey relationships have popped up. They’d probably get a lot less hassle than us because they’re both preds.”

“There’ll still be mammals that frown upon it. To hear some of the serious fundamentals talk if they had they’re way they’d round up everyone that dates outside their species and burn them at the stake. We’d most likely be the first ones they’d want to toast.”

Judy looked up and blinked. “You…you aren’t saying that we’re…a mistake, are you?”

“No!” Nick exclaimed, dropping his chopsticks and taking his wife’s paws. “Judy, I chose you. I love you! The way you make me feel…that isn’t a mistake…it’s a blessing.”

The bunny looked into her husband’s eyes and knew that what she said had hurt, and regretted opening her mouth. “I know,” she whispered. “I…I’m sorry. Oh, Nick! You know that my cycles make me stupid and emotional!’ she told him, her eyes filling. “I guess I’m just a hormonal dumb bunny!” she spat, hating the things her body did to her sometimes and the way it clouded her thinking at times.

“Maybe,” the fox said as he lifted her chin with a finger so she had to look at him. “But you’re my hormonal dumb bunny and there’s nothing that’ll change that.” 

When he leaned closer his wife thought he was going to kiss her, which he did. Then he ran his cheeks over hers refreshing the scent markings in the manner of foxes. As he’d suspected it had the effect of mollifying his mate during the few days of the month that were occasionally difficult. It definitely calmed her as he’d suspected, but it also did a bit more. The next thing that Nick knew was he was laying on his back as his wife kissed him soundly, her paws running under his shirt into his fur as she ground herself against him in sudden need.

“Okay,” the fox said between kisses with a wide smile. “I guess we’re going straight to dessert…”

“Shut up and kiss me…” Judy husked breathlessly. “Goddess of rabbits…you smell good!” she told her mate with fervor.

Nick had just lost his shirt and was enjoying the way in which his bunny wife snuffled the fur on his body, drinking in his scent as she made small cooing noises when a series of hard knocks sounded from the door.

“Go…away!” Judy growled softly as she nuzzled her nose further into her husband’s fur.

The knock came again, though it sounded more like someone slapping their pads against the barrier. There was something about it that sounded off and Nick frowned. “We better see who that is,” he said, trying to ignore the frown on Judy’s face.

“Fine,” she muttered. “Then I can shoot them…” she snarled softly, her body causing her to feel a very uncharitable surge of anger at being denied.

Nick padded silently to the door, the fisheye peephole showing a small figure with light tan fur. Finn?” the fox muttered before disengaging the lock and opening up. “A little late for dropping by, brother. You okay?” the red fox asked.

Finnick looked up, the scowl he wore one of pain instead of irritation that melted away into one that Nick had never seen on his oldest friend’s face.

Desperation and need.

“Nick…” the smaller fox muttered before slumping to his knees. “I…I need…h-hel-p…”

Before Nick could react the desert fox toppled forward, the larger fox barely catching the other and rolled him onto his back. His right side was a sodden mess of crimson, three holes in his shirt matching the seeping wounds underneath. Finnick!” Nick shouted, his own paw slapping down over the injuries to put pressure on. “Stay with me, Finn!” His head whipped around to Judy on the other side of the apartment. “Call an ambulance! Hurry! He’s dying!” Turning back to look at the other fox, Nick saw that the insides of his friend’s large ears were too pale, too white. “No! Nonono! Stay with me!”

Finnick’s eyes popped open once but didn’t really focus properly as the smaller fox reached up, his paw smearing the creamy fur of Nick’s chest with dark red blood. “Th-the kids…Nick…gotta help…kids…” he managed before his eyes rolled up and he went limp.

Judy joined her husband as he began sobbing over the smaller desert fox, screaming at the other one to hold on until his voice cracked and gave out.


	2. Chapter 2

Nick paced the drab confines of the waiting room, the fur of his tail flared out as if it were filled with static electricity and his hackles slightly raised. On a row of padded seats Judy struggled to comfort a distraught Chrysanthemum Jiro, the girlfriend of the friend they waited to hear an update on. The tanuki girl had stopped sobbing almost an hour before but tears, silent and steady, still streamed from raw eyes. Once more the doors to the surgical wing opened on automatic openers, fox, bunny and raccoon dog looking up expectantly only to see an oryx pushing a cleaning cart out, his head bobbing slightly as he listened to music on his phone.

Growling softly Nick stalked to the admissions desk, the ocelot behind the semicircular counter shaking her head before the fox could even speak.

“I’m sorry, Officer Wilde. Still nothing,” the cat told him, her expression one of genuine sympathy. “Would you like to wait in the lounge maybe? There are vending machines…I know it’s not the best, but it’s all I can really offer you.”

“No,” Nick said, taking a breath and forcing himself to calm down. “Thank you, though.” He turned, his eyes falling on Judy and Chryssie before being drawn to movement outside the enormous sliding glass doors. 

No sooner did Chief Bogo enter the waiting room, looking oddly out of place without his uniform then he made a straight line for the red fox. “What’s the situation, Wilde?” the cape buffalo asked in his deep, booming voice.

The red fox took in a breath, a frown twisting his face into an unpleasant expression. “A little before twenty one hundred this evening there was a knock on mine and Judy’s apartment door. When I opened it Finnick was there. He was clutching his right side,” Nick began, delivering the information as if he were giving a verbal debrief at the station, almost a year as an officer causing him to slip into cop mode and he spoke as emotionlessly as possible even though inside he was anything but. “Three stab wounds were still bleeding profusely and I asked Judy to call for an ambulance…”

Nick paused and looked at the Chief of Zootopia’s Police Department and the frown deepened.

“Sir? He said something about children. I had to protect the children,” the fox informed the cape buffalo.

Bogo tilted his head quizzically. “Do you know what he was talking about?”

Nick shook his head slowly. “Finn had to think it was vitally important or he wouldn’t have come to me in that condition. Finnick’s tough, but he’s not stupid, Chief.” Taking a breath he pushed on. “Sir, Finn works for Child Services now. He takes that about as seriously as can be. You wouldn’t think it to meet him, but Finn really cares about young mammals.”

“Preaching to the choir, Wilde,” Bogo grunted “I’ve been collaborating with Child Services. Mr. Finster in particular. I know he takes his job seriously.”

The red fox swallowed. “Chief? I’d like to be put on the investigation. I know you’ve got other, more experienced mammals, but Finn…Sir, he’s like my brother. I’d like to head this one up.”

“You hustling for a promotion, Wilde?” Bogo inquired with a scowl. “You’re a street cop, not a detective.”

“But, Sir!” Nick began before the cape buffalo held up a hoof that was almost as big as the fox’s head. 

“But you can head it up,” Bogo said. “I’ve got two rules for you on this one, though. No heroics. You get this done, and you bring anything you find to me immediately, day or night. Do you copy?”

“And I get Hopps, Sir?”

The bull looked down before his expression softened considerably. “No. But I will let you have Officer Hopps-Wilde,” he said with the ghost of a smile on his wide muzzle. “I’m serious, though. You bring me any information you’ve got. And first thing in the morning you come to my office. I have some things you need to see.” Bogo turned to go to where Chryssie sat with Judy before turning around. “And Wilde? No uniforms. You and Hopps-Wilde are in plain clothes until I say otherwise.”

“Yes, Sir!” Nick replied, more than a little stunned. He’d been expecting a fight with the old bull. That the Chief wanted he and Judy in regular street clothes was a bit of a shock. He watched as the tanuki was consoled by the cape buffalo, whatever was being said causing the raccoon dog to nod silently before she launched herself at Bogo in a desperate hug, the bull holding her right back with a startling amount of tenderness. 

Judy got up to join her husband but before she got more than a couple of feet away a tired looking ewe in aquamarine scrubs stepped out into the waiting room and looked around. “Mr. Wilde?” the sheep asked as she pulled the surgical mask from her neck.

“Yes? That’s me,” Nick said in a strained voice, his heart suddenly pounding in anxiousness.

“Mr. Finster is in the recovery ward for now. Technically the surgery was a success despite the internal damage. Once he’s stabilized we’ll be moving him to the critical care ward so we can continuously monitor him,” the ewe said swaying a little on her feet.

The red fox swallowed past a mouth and throat that had suddenly gone ry. “Can…can I see him? Is he awake?” Nick asked.

The ewe shook her head slowly. “He hasn’t regained consciousness yet.” She stepped up, her staff badge indicating her as Dr. A. Woolerton of the cardio-thoracic department. “Mr. Finster lost a terrible amount of blood and right now we’re concerned about possible brain damage. It’s best to let him rest for now so we’ve put him into a medically induced coma.” She reached a hoof into the pocket of her scrub coat and pulled out a small item. “When Mr. Finster was brought in the last thing he said was to give this to you, that you’d know what to do with it.”

The ewe put a small flash drive into Nick’s paw and closed his fingers over it.

“He seemed to think it was important that you get this.” The doctor continued. “Now, as it’s still too early to tell, I want you and others…” Woolerton sighed and shook her head and rubbed at the spot between her dark brown eyes. “I think it might be best if you…if you prepare yourselves. The injuries were extensive and we don’t know if he was getting enough oxygen to his brain. Until he actually wakes up we won’t know if Mr. Finster stroked out. I don’t want you to get your hopes up and I need you,” she looked at Judy, Chryssie and Bogo, “I need you to prepare yourselves.”

The words were like a kick to his genitals and Nick felt as if he were going to be sick until he literally shook the feeling of, his emerald eyes seeming to catch fire as a determined, defiant look settled on his face and he shook his head. “No. You don’t get to say that,” the fox all but growled causing the doctor to involuntarily take a step back. “Finnick’s a fighter. He’s not going anywhere. He’ll make it. You’ll see.”

“Officer Wilde,” the doctor began, her look sympathetic. “We have to face facts and-“

“I said NO!” Nick snarled, his paws clenching into fists and his eyes almost aflame before tears began to stream down his cheeks. “Finn will make it!” the defiance was replaced by desperation and the fury poured out of him like water from a pitcher and he sagged, his fur and ears laying flat. “He…he has to..”

Judy was there in an instant, her tiny paws supporting her mate as the fox’s head drooped and he turned into her embrace. 

“He has to make it, Carrots…”

“He will,” the bunny said confidently. “Finn’s almost as stubborn as you. He’ll pull through.” She held him for several more moments until pulling away a little an touched her husband’s face to get him to look at her. “We’ve also got Chryssie to look out for. Think she can crash at our place?”

“Of course!” Nick replied and turned his head to see the tanuki hovering next to the much larger Bogo and held out an arm and open paw to her, the raccoon dog making a small sound as she ran to the fox and bunny and let them pull her into their embrace. “Finnick’ll be fine. And I don’t want him pissed off at me for not taking care of his tanuki girl,” he told the two females.

Bogo watched for a few moments before clearing his throat to get the attention of his two officers. “Be at my office by eight. Get some rest, take care of Miss Chrysanthemum. And remember, no uniforms.”

Nick and Judy waved as the bull turned to go, realizing that they should probably do the same and slowly guided the crying tanuki through the doors and to the emergency room parking area. 

It was going to be a long and difficult night, Nick doubting he’d get much sleep, even though the cop part of his brain knew that being exhausted would do the investigation of what happened to his friend no good and might make him miss critical evidence. The emotional part was still screaming, though, about his oldest friend back at the hospital, fretting over what the doctor said. Be prepared? Nick thought bitterly, the recalled words causing a spiral of anger, guilt and despair before recycling to the first. NO! he screamed at himself. Finnick would pull through.

He had to…

Because traffic was light due to the hour, the analog clock on the dashboard of Nick’s car reading close to two AM it only took twelve minutes before the three pulled into the Friendship Plaza neighborhood. Judy and Chryssie were able to share the single passenger seat of the little sports car without too much discomfort but were both relieved when Nick pulled into the garage and shut the engine off.

“Go on up and get situated,” the fox said as he slid out from behind the wheel. “I’ll be up in a moment.”

Judy simply nodded silently helped the emotionally exhausted tanuki up the stairs while Nick went back to the car and popped the trunk. The breakdown bag was in its proper spot and he opened the zipper to retrieve the powerful LED flashlight inside. 

The fox had seen the blood trail when he and his wife had bolted out of the apartment to follow the ambulance. Now that things were at a stalemate as far as Finnick was concerned, Nick wanted to see if the dark congealed spatters led anywhere specific. Form the foot of the stairs, he followed the trail, losing it for a moment on the darker asphalt of street and the oil stains that masked the evidence before noticing that the blood was not only a shade different, but being partially dry lent the droplets a slightly reflective surface. Nick crossed the street, found where more blood was on the light gray concrete of the sidewalk that led to another alley.

The alleys between the buildings were used for parking in the older neighborhood as the streets were too narrow and clearly marked as no parking zones. Finnick’s van was unsurprisingly in an alley two blocks over and Nick approached cautiously, his ears and nose working overtime as a feeling of unease filled the fox, even going so far as to draw his genitals tight against his body in unconscious preparation for either fight-or-flight. 

The door to the driver’s side hung open and shining the light around, even going so far as to flash it under the vehicle, Nick made sure there was no one lurking in nooks or crannies and approached carefully, suddenly wishing he had his pistol. It might have been a simple tranq gun, but the darts were loaded with soporifics that functioned quickly, actually using a sort of biological solvent that enabled the drugs to work slightly faster than the rate of nerve induction. Nearly every animal in Zootpoia would be on the ground and sleeping before they even knew the darts in the nonlethal weapon had hit them.

Using the light to look through the window, Nick made sure there wasn’t anyone in the van before moving towards the open door. The first thing he noticed was that there was too much blood on the seat. A mammal Finnick’s size only held so much and it was a wonder he hadn’t bled out before making it to Nick and Judy’s apartment. Two blocks with his guts ripped up… Nick shook his head, pushing the emotions that rose to the surface down, putting them in the box that he hadn’t really used since going straight and becoming a cop. Doing so enabled him to take a good long look at the van.

Finnick had never been the neatest of foxes, but even the desert fox had limits and while there might be debris in the van after years of living in it, it was never what Nick would have considered messy or littered full of garbage. With that bit of personal knowledge, the fox could tell that someone, or a couple of someone’s had tossed the van looking for something. The contents of the center console were strewn all over, the glove box had been emptied, whoever had done the searching going so far as to break the hinge for the small compartment so that the door hung at a crazed angle. The same could be said for the back.

Nick looked as much as he could for some trace as to the perpetrators, but he was careful not to touch anything. It was bad enough that leaning in as he was doing would probably leave trace evidence that might cause real clues to become muddled. With a sigh he used a paw under his T-shirt to close the door, making sure to avoid the handle before pulling out his phone. The number that he wanted was the third on the list of contacts and he tapped the screen before putting the iCarrot smartphone to his ear as he stepped to the end of the alley and leaned against the wall of one of the buildings that formed the mouth.

“Central dispatch ZPD,” the voice on the other end said, the voice high and nasally. 

“This is Officer Nick Wilde,” the fox told the mammal on the other end, his eyes continuously searching the streets and shadowy spaces. “I have a van that is now evidence in a pending investigation, attempted murder. It’s in the alley between Friendship Boulevard and Chestnut Avenue. Older conversion, custom artwork on the side. I need forensics to come and pick it up for processing.”

Nick could hear the tapping of hoofed fingers on a keyboard before the dispatch operator made a sound of surprise. “Oh! Chief Bogo has you down as a Priority One, Officer Wilde. I’ll have forensics there with a flatbed in about fifteen minutes at the latest! Is there anything else you require at this time, sir?”

‘Sir?’ Nick thought with a frown. ‘The Chief isn’t messing around!’ “Negative dispatch. I’ll remain with the vehicle until the crime scene guys get here. Thanks.” 

The dispatcher said something but Nick was already hanging up and tapping the first name on his call list. It sounded to Nick as if the phone only rang once before an irritated wife answered. “Where the hell are you?!?” Judy hissed quietly into her phone, though the lowered volume didn’t abate the irritation or worry that flavored her words.

“Sorry, love. I didn’t want to put anymore on Chryssie’s plate. I followed Finn’s blood trail and found his van two blocks away in the alley next to Singh’s deli. I’m waiting for forensics to come get it now.”

“Did you find anything?” Judy inquired, the curiosity and worry in her voice clearly evident.

“More blood,” the fox answered in a subdued tone. “And it looks like the van was tossed.” Nick sighed in frustration, his tired brain needing rest but he couldn’t force himself to shut it down yet. “What the hell has Finn gotten himself into? I know he pulled some good cons and hustles, but this…I can’t think of anyone that would want him dead. Roughed up maybe, but not dead.” He shook his head to clear it. “As soon as they get here and get the van for processing I’ll come home. I shouldn’t be more than twenty, maybe thirty minutes.”

“Just call and let me know if it takes longer,” the bunny requested. “We’ll get to the bottome of this, all right?”

“I know we will.”

“I love you, Nick.”

“Love you, too,” he said, a smile touching his mouth before he ended the call. 

As he dropped the phone back into his pocket it clicked against something and the fox stuck his paw in only to pull out the thumb drive. He looked at it for a moment but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and clicked the flashlight back on. As the bright white LED illumination fell upon it Nick saw that there was black marker ink that was almost invisible in the gloom against the dark blue plastic end. The marking looked like a capital ‘H’, though Finnick had never had the best pawwriting, his penmanship about as legible as Sanskrit. 

Nick turned the device over and over before turning off the flashlight, wondering if whoever had tried to kill his friend had been looking for what the fox now held, curious as to what a worker in Child Services could have stumbled upon to make another mammal try to kill him. It just didn’t make sense.

The wash of headlights made the fox look up from his musings, the thumb drive going back into his pocket as his fur stood on end in the sudden surge of adrenalin until he recognize the vehicle as one of ZPD’s crime scene mobile labs. The van had all manner of materials and equipment, but it still wasn’t as thoroughly outfitted as the actual Precinct One facilities. Behind it was a city traffic enforcement flatbed tow truck, the rhino in the driver seat looking tired and bored while the forensics team pulled all the way to the corner and put on its hazard flashers.

“You Officer Wilde?” A raccoon wearing wireframe glasses and dark blue overalls asked as he got out of the driver’s side of the van.

“I am,” Nick said as he stepped forward.

“Investigator Voorhees,” the raccoon said. “This is my assistant Investigator Quinto,” he added, pointing to a red deer doe. “This is the van?”

“Yes,” Nick said. “It looks like it’s been searched and I looked for suspects but didn’t get in. I did lean in over the seat, though. You might find little bits of me in the blood on the driver seat.”

The raccoon nodded. “Did you touch and of the surfaces?”

“Just the door on the driver’s side to close it to preserve possible evidence. I had my paw in my T-shirt when I did, though,” the fox informed the forensics specialist. “Nothing else. I didn’t want to muddy up any potential evidence.”

“That was very thoughtful,” Investigator Voorhees answered. “No offense, but most officers are rather clumsy and unmindful of evidence, more interested in the immediate apprehension of suspects. It isn’t often that I meet an officer that thinks ahead.” He pulled out a small evidence bag and pair of scissors after putting on blue plastic gloves. “I need a few strands of fur so that if we do find anything you may have left behind we’ll have a sample to compare it to.”

“Oh, yeah. Of course,” Nick told the scientist as he held out his arm. “Um…is there anything else,” he asked as he watched the trimmings get labeled and put in a box that the raccoon wrote on and slipped into the van. “Tomorrow starts early and I’ve already had a bit of a late night…”

“Go home, Officer Wilde,” the raccoon said with a smile. “We’ll get this back and begin the forensics analysis immediately.”

With that the forensics team went to work, preliminary collection would happen here before the van was set up for transport and the fox was promptly ignored. As he took the sidewalk back to the apartment instead of the alleys, Nick had to shake his head in admiration. He knew that many cases hinged upon the evidence collected from forensics teams, and the eggheads had often done more to get convictions of criminals than actual cops, but to do what they did, to sift through microscopic traces of evidence, sorting the nuggets of viable information from the trash required far more patience than the fox had.

Nick sighed with relief as he got to the apartment then looked up at the stairs with chagrin. He was feeling the day physically even if his mind was still racing with what happened to Finnick. He kept going over in his mind who would want to try and kill the desert fox. Finn had been out of the con game for a while, and there wasn’t anyone that Nick could recall from before that the smaller fox had burned with a good hustle. Even from before when he and Nick had scammed together prior to the red fox helping Judy and getting through the Night Howler Conspiracy and his joining the police academy there hadn’t been any marks that had gotten conned bad enough to kill.

He unlocked the door, closing it and making sure that he shut it quietly, already seeing Chryssie stretched out on the end of the couch, a light blanket over her and her paws tucked under one of the cushions. Ensuring the lock was engaged, Nick paused to peek at the coffee pot to make sure it was set for the morning and switched off the lights and made his way to the bedroom. He wanted nothing more than to lay down, his head throbbing just behind his eyes. It wasn’t until Nick pulled off his T-shirt and glanced down that he realized he had Finnick’s blood in his fur. 

A look towards the bed showed that Judy already appeared to be asleep and he didn’t see her as she sat up and looked at him as he trudged to the bathroom. Before he could even get his gym shorts off the bunny was there, her arms slipping around her husband’s waist as she hugged him from behind.

“Rough night, huh?” she asked, rubbing her cheek into the coarser fur along his spine.

“Got that right,” Nick muttered. “I’m exhausted but I just can’t get up here to quiet down,” the fox said as he tapped his head. “How’d you get Chryssie to go to sleep?”

“I gave her two of the pain pills you had left over from getting shot,” Judy confessed. “I wouldn’t normally do that, but I think they helped take the edge off her anxiety and got her to settle down. I wouldn’t have done it if they were more than just regular headache meds with codeine.”

Nick reached into the shower and started the water before looking again at his fur matted with his friend’s blood. “I hope Finn makes it…”

Judy slipped around and took his paws in hers looking up with an earnest expression. “He will, honey. He’s as tough and as stubborn as you are. He’ll pull through.” She touched the line of his jaw affectionately. “You shower up. I’m going to go make you a cup of tea. It’ll help you relax so you can get to sleep.” When her husband didn’t move she playfully swatted his right buttock. “C’mon, now. In the water with you!”

Doing as he was instructed Nick stepped under the hot spray, not needing to wash more than his chest. He grabbed the nozzle and brush attachment, focusing on the area he needed to by touch alone, not wanting to see the blood anymore even though the scent of it, sweet copper and with a tangy hint of iron filled his nose. It was bad enough that there were going to be little reminders of this night on the stairs and sidewalks for a long time.

Once his fur was completely washed out the fox wicked the excess water out of his coat and stepped into the fur dryer while his mind ran the same thing over and over; ‘Find who hurt Finn-find who hurt Finn,’ over and over to the point Nick wanted to tear into something with teeth and claws in frustration and anger. He was hardly aware when the dryer shut itself off automatically and didn’t move until his mate came in and guided him back to their room. Judy got him to sit on the bed before pulling the comforter up over his legs and placed a cup of chamomile and mint into his paws.

“Drink up, lover. It’ll help,” she told him softly, getting behind her fox to gently massage his shoulders and neck, her fingers even working into the fur behind his ears. She let a smile touch her mouth as Nick gulped the tea down, sighing as he finished it off and plucked the cup from his fingers and set it on the nightstand before encouraging him to lie down as she scooted to her side of the bed. “There we go,” Judy whispered as her fox let his head sink into the pillow, her paw continuing to stroke the fur between his ears.   
She almost yelped in surprise as Nick pulled her under the comforter, pulling her close and curling his body around hers. “I just need to hold you while I sleep,” Nick mumbled, his muzzle laying in the soft area where her neck and shoulder met, giving her a kiss before settling. 

“You do what you need to,” Judy whispered, enjoying the feel of him at her back, the warmth and security. “I’m not complaining.”

“…love you…” the fox whispered, already drifting off, the almost permanent furrow that had creased the point between his brows since finding the bleeding fennec finally vanishing.

“I love you, too,” Judy said even though Nick was already asleep, his breathing regular and steady even as he unconsciously threw his tail over his wife like a second blanket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, not a lot to say in this note. 
> 
> Now, in the movie and as spoken by the creators of Zootopia, Nick and Finnick aren't really friends. They're business partners. Unfortunately that bit of information came out after I wrote these stories, so I figured I'd just keep it as is instead of changing things out, so...


	3. Chapter 3

Judy drove the cruiser into Precinct One’s motor pool to turn it in while Nick drove his car. Neither one had put on uniforms as per Chief Bogo’s orders and it felt weird to be heading in to work dressed in civilian attire. It had taken some acclimation, but Nick liked putting on the uniform. Doing so felt like it set him not just apart, but forward as an example for other mammals to follow, that it said to the citizens of Zootopia ‘I care about you and will make the sacrifice to keep you safe’. He’d tried explaining that to Judy a couple of months out of the ZPD Academy and she nodded, understanding completely what he meant. Now, as he swung into the fenced in area for officers to park their privately owned vehicles he felt almost naked without his uniform or vest with badge and ZPD in bold white letters on the back.

Instead the fox wore khakis, an off-white cotton button down and denim vest that Judy had got him because she thought it made look like the character from ‘Fur Wars’. Granted the character had been a bit of a hustler and smuggler, more of a free spirit that eventually joined a group of freedom fighters to combat a tyrannical government, but Nick found him instantly appealing because it reminded the fox of himself in a number of ways. On a more practical note the vest and loose pants enabled him to carry his badge, cuffs and pistol without them being conspicuous. 

Judy was already waiting at the doors for her husband, dressed in jeans and green flannel with the sleeves rolled up. She carried her implements of law enforcement in a small cloth shoulder bag, though her pistol rode on her hip under her shirt. She smiled and held out a large coffee to her husband.

“You are a lifesaver, my sweet Carrots,” Nick said with a chaste kiss to her cheek in gratitude as he wrapped his paw around the insulated cup. “Ima needin’ this today.” He took a sip, the brew rich with cream and sugar, the ratios absolutely perfect. “Mmm. Did you get Chryssie home okay?”

The bunny nodded as they entered the precinct building. “I told her to call if she needs anything and made sure she has enough for cab fare to the hospital. I also told her she could crash on the couch again if she wanted to and was welcome as long as she needed.”

Nick shoulder rubbed the bunny with a warm smile. “Good on you. Of course she’s welcome.” Nick would have said more but a familiar figure trundling towards them caused the fox to chuckle. “Look out. Here comes the Zootopia Intelligence Agency.”

“Be nice to Benjamin!” the bunny whispered in admonishment with a playful punch to her mate’s arm. “What a terrible thing to say!”

“But true,” Nick countered between sips of his coffee. “You got gossip, news or anything you don’t want someone to know, Clawhauser’s already heard it.” Nick smirked. “And he’s more than willing to share it with anyone that’ll listen.”

“Hey, guys!” the portly cheetah said as he bustled up to the fox and bunny, a little out of breath but not as bad as it used to be before Nick started helping him in the precinct gym. “The Chief told me to catch you before you headed to the bullpen and wanted me to tell you to head straight to his office and wait for him there.”

“Thanks, Benji,” Judy told him with a smile.

“Sure, not a problem.” He saw the bag that Judy had in her paw, his eyes widening as a smile spread across his muzzle. “Ooooo! Is that from ‘Kamel Kroissants’? I love their stuff!”

Judy held out the bag, both bunny and fox snickering as the cheetah’s paw shot out to take the bag before she could say anything. “Enjoy, Benji! We’ll see you later,” the rabbit said as she and Nick headed briskly for the elevator. As the doors shut they could hear the disappointment from the ZPD’s receptionist.

“Awww. A multigrain bagel and veggie cream cheese?” Clawhauser moaned in disappointment. “But what about their double chocolate almond…”

The doors to the elevator shut cutting off Clawhauser’s lamenting. When Nick looked down at his wife with a raised eyebrow Judy shrugged. “You’ve been helping him in the gym,” she said with a shrug. “How could I wreck all that work?”

“You know that probably dropped your standing on his list of favorite mammals, right?”

“Maybe,” the bunny replied, “but he can get the bottom button on his uniform closed now.”

The door to the Chief’s office was unlocked and the pair let themselves in, Judy taking the yellow chair that faced the desk, Nick walking around and looking at the various framed city citations and awards that hung on the walls. Unable to keep from snooping, Nick slipped around the desk and looked at the two small picture frames that sat on either side of the computer monitor and tilted his head. One had a much younger Bogo standing with another cape buffalo, both in ZPD blues. Both were smiling and looked as if they were quite the jokesters. Another held the image of a rhino that the fox didn’t recognize. When he bent to get a closer look he accidentally tapped the mouse bringing the computer the monitor was connected to out of sleep mode.

“Will you stop snooping,” Judy scolded her husband in a soft tone.

“I’m not snooping,” Nick retorted with a affronted expression. “I’m…well, okay. I’m snooping.” He wasn’t in the mood to argue, even if it was playfully as pictures began to flash onto the monitor.

Images began to appear then fade, replaced by other that showed up in different areas of the screen, a standard saver program, but the pictures were all ones of the station and personnel. Then one appeared that caused Nick to do a double take before it vanished. It was a shot of Judy and him, Bogo, Clawhauser, Wolford, Trunkabee, Grizzoli and others from the wedding for the fox and bunny that had been held on the rooftop park of the precinct weeks before. All of them were smiling and having a good time, though the cheetah was more interested in the slice of wedding cake that had been covered with miniature donuts and was colored the same shades of blue and gold of the standard ZPD uniform.

With a strange sensation in his chest, Nick stepped back from around the desk and put his arm up to lean on the chair’s back. It seemed that despite his favorite phrase, Bogo did care about his officers. More than he let on apparently.

The bunny and fox didn’t have long to wait and heavy steps announced Chief Bogo’s return to his office before the appearance of the cape buffalo himself. He said nothing as he stepped around his desk and dropped heavily into his chair and opened a drawer. “Badges,” he ordered with a single word and held out his hoof.

Nick slipped his out of his pocket, removing the flap that slipped into the center of his wallet and passed it over, a curious expression on his face while Judy took hers out, her face a mask of confusion and worry. “Chief?” she asked as she passed her badge over, her paw trembling slightly. Had they done something wrong?

Bogo dropped them in the drawer of his desk and produced two ZPD badge shields that were slightly different than the ones that had been handed over. “For now you’re both temporarily assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division for the duration of the Finster case. Your friend was supposed to bring us information on something he uncovered, but never made it and you know why.” The cape buffalo watched as his officers got their new badges situated and nodded. “Now, before you ask, no, I don’t know what it was that he was going to bring in, but he sounded concerned. I assume it had something to do with his job in Child Services, but again, I have nothing else.”

Chief Bogo pulled a paper out and handed it to the bunny. 

“That’s a search warrant for his office in the Pruitt municipal building downtown. Full authority to access his files, his computer, it doesn’t matter.” Bogo then pulled a set of keys out from the drawer. “And this is for the vehicle that you will use while you’re working this case. I’d like it back in one piece or I will take the cost of a replacement from your hides, do you get me?”

“Gotcha, Chief,” Nick said as the bull flicked his wrist and sent the keys spinning towards the fox who plucked them out of the air.

“You work your own hours, just log in to the ZPD main when you start and when you finish. Don’t worry about the overtime restrictions for now,” Bogo said as he pulled a bottle of aspirin out of his desk, shook out half a dozen pills before washing it down with a paper cup filled with coffee dregs.

“This might work better, Chief,” the fox said as he stood and poured some of his coffee into the cape buffalo’s. “At least it mostly hot and a lot fresher than that mess.

Bogo was caught off guard by the unexpected generosity, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. “Thanks, Wilde,” he muttered before choking down the analgesics. “I want to know what Finster had, what he thought was so all fired important, and why he was scared.”

Nick blinked. “Scared? Finnick? I don’t think there’s a thing or mammal in the world that he’s afraid of.”

“Everybody fears something, Wilde,” Bogo said quietly. “Trust me when I say Mr. Finster sounded scared about something. And until he wakes up we can’t talk to him about it.”

The fox and bunny both nodded before Nick stuck his paw in his pocket. “Finnick had this on his when he came to the apartment last night, Chief. I don’t know what’s on it, though.”

“Very forthcoming, Wilde,” the bull said with a nod. “But don’t give it to me. You’re the one that wanted to head up this investigation, so head it up. Now then,” he continued, the frown lines threatening to make a reappearance, “like I said, no uniforms. Keep this quiet, keep your heads down. I have a feeling there’s something sinister going on. Two, don’t either of you dare go anywhere without being armed. I mean it. Supply has undercover body armor and I’d feel a hell of a lot better if you wore it, but I can’t force you to do so. Three, watch your backs. I’ve already notified dispatch that you two have priority if you call for back up.” He pulled business cards out of his shirt pocket that were different than the ones on the desk holder. “That’s my personal cell and home number. Put it in your phones and keep the cards handy if you can’t remember it. It’ll ring one or the other so you can get in touch with me anytime, day or night.”

Nick deposited the thumb drive back into his pocket and stood, looking from Bogo to Judy. “Anything else Chief?”

The bull shook his head as he pulled reading glasses out of his pocket and settled them on his broad snout. “Get out there, find out what’s going on, talk to only me and don’t screw up. Now get out of here. I’ve got work to do.”

Without further comment Nick headed to the door and held it open for Judy, the two of them taking back hallways down to the motor pool to avoid most of their fellow officers and Benjamin Clawhauser. They both cared deeply for the cheetah, but the rotund cat was a phenomenal gossip. At least without having to come into briefings and roll call for shifts they could avoid any encounters that could turn out to be uncomfortable by having to lie or misdirect their friends.

The aged wolverine in charge of the motor pool, sergeant stripes on his sleeves, raised an eyebrow and glanced at the keys in Nick’s paw and grunted. "Second row, last spot. Green one. Don’t scratch it,” the officer said. It was the first time that Nick or Judy had been issued an undercover car and waited for a moment to see if they had to sign for anything but the motor pool sergeant simply ignored them until he got fed up with them hovering. “Well? I ain’t gonna go and get it for ya,” the older officer growled.

Looking at each other for a moment Nick raised an eyebrow while Judy shrugged and headed out to the lot. The key looked as if it had random numbers and letters on it, but they actually corresponded to the license plates. The fox had an easier way of finding the car and pushed the horn button on the remote fob. “I think it’s over there,” he said with a smirk.

As the pair stepped up to their new car Judy looked at it, looked at Nick, and back. “What? Is there something wrong with it?” the bunny asked with a frown at the expression on her husband’s face. She waved a paw in front of the fox’s muzzle. “Nick? Earth to Nick?” When he still didn’t answer she plucked the fur at the base of his tail with a sharp jerk.

“Jumping crickets! That hurt, Carrots,” Nick finally said as he rubbed his backside with a paw.

“Now that I’ve got your attention, what’s wrong?”

Nick shook his head as a grin of unparalleled delight spread across his muzzle. “Nothing’s wrong, bunny-love. Everything is actually quite right. What we have here is a classic example of all things fast and sexy…not including you, my dearest,” the fox added hastily when he heard Judy’s foot tapping in irritation on the motor pool’s paving. “This is the Equin-Apex Motors ‘Merlin’ 770,” Nick breathed with a look that Judy normally saw on the fox when he was in the mood and looking at her.

“Do I need to leave the two of you alone?” she asked with her arms crossing over her breast while she thrust one hip out in irritation. “You are a fickle fox. It wasn’t even twelve hours ago that you were looking at me that way,” Judy said with a feigned pout.

In a moment of completely unprofessional behavior Nick snagged his wife’s paw, pulled her to him with a pirouette thrown in before dipping her backwards and planting a short but passionate kiss to the end of her muzzle. “No car will ever compare to you, hun-bun. The benefit here is that, unlike my Alfalfa, the Merlin has a very nice back seat that we could try out…”

Judy looked askew at her husband, her expression one of disbelief. “How can you joke around right now?”

The fox helped his wife stand up and gave her a sober look before turning his head slightly as he stepped to the door. “I have to,” Nick said. “If I think too much about everything that’s going on I won’t be able to focus at all. If I can’t focus, we’ll never figure out who tried to kill Finn.”

With a look of chagrin the bunny reached out and touched the fox’s arm. “I…I’m sorry. I know this is rough. And I know that humor is how you normally cope.” Judy shook her head. “Me being a dumb bunny again, huh?”

“You’re never a dumb bunny,” Nick said honestly as he scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his wrist. “And it’s not right of me to say it.”

Judy jumped up and kissed him on the end of his muzzle. “Uh-uh. We’re not going to do this right now. Let’s get in, get down to Finnick’s office and figure out what he’s stumbled on and shut it down. Then I say we swing by the hospital and tell him what we’re doing.”

Nick nodded in agreement as she spoke until his mate got to the last part of her suggestion. “He’s still unconscious, though.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Judy told him with a warm smile. “I think…I believe that even if someone is out of it, there’s some part of them that still listens. That and I think it’ll do you a world of good to see that he’s still with us.”

“You’re too good to me,” the fox said as he opened the car door, a look of appreciation on his features for his wife.

She winked and used the line he normally used when she said the same thing. “It’s because you’re worth it.”

******************

The office that Norbert Hiram Finster, or Finnick to those that knew him, had was surprisingly large and there were a number of filing cabinets that the desert fox had, each one stuffed with case files for kits, kids, cubs, calves, pups and lambs that Child Services took care of or helped out of less than stellar situations. Judy volunteered to go through the filing cabinets while Nick directed his attentions on the desk and computer. The bunny had to use the rolling ladder to get to some of the upper drawers while her husband pushed the small office chair out of the way and sat on the floor. He didn’t move for almost an hour, his rifling of the desk yielding absolutely nothing as did his perusal of the desktop terminal.

Swearing darkly Nick dropped his head into his open paws and rubbed at his head. “It’s a bust over here,” he told his mate, a frown twisting his features into an expression of distaste and irritation. I found nothing that isn’t completely normal. Schedules, meeting times, reviews and hearings.” He lifted his head and pounded one fist onto the desk top. “C’mon, Finn!” he snarled. “Give me a break here!”

“Nick?” Judy asked as she all but climbed into one of the drawers at the top of the last file cabinet.

“Sorry, love,” the fox began. “I know losing my temper isn’t helping.”

“No, it isn’t, but it’s understandable,” the bunny said before grunting as she pulled on something. “I think Finnick just gave you that break you wanted, though.” Before Nick could help her she found the top of the ladder’s rungs and stood up with a computer notebook in her paws. “Can you think of any reason to hide something like this?” she asked as she passed it to her mate.

“With Finn? About a dozen, all of them a little on the paranoid side. He’s not as bad as a badger we both know, but he has his moments.” Nick grew thoughtful as he stood there on the cusp of opening the notebook. “I don’t think I want to fire this up here.” He looked at his wife with the hint of hope in his eyes. “I know a great little coffee shop that has some really good sandwiches over on the edge of the Rainforest District. I say we get some lunch and see what we can dig up.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the USB drive and held it up between the pads of his index finger and thumb. “What do you think?”

Thirty minutes later the pair was ensconced in a booth with food and drinks, the cord plugged into a wall socket that was almost hidden by the booth’s bench seat that Nick and Judy shared. It would be easier than spinning the small computer back and forth, let both of them keep an eye out on the door and few other patrons, all the while sitting next to each other.

The fox sipped from his mug while he waited for the boot-up process to finish, the process taking less time than his machine at home did. “Well, bug-nuts. Of course he’d have a password,” Nick grumbled. Trying to think of what it could be he stared at the plug-in USB device, spinning it absently with a claw tip. When the light hit it just right he saw that the writing in marker wasn’t an ‘H’ but a pair of ‘T’s. “Hold on a sec…” Nick mumbled, his sandwich and drink both forgotten as he leaned forward.

He tried a dozen different words before frowning, his paws shaking a little in frustration. Nick knew the password had to be something they both shared in common, it was simply how Finnick was, then he remembered the last hustle they ran together before the red fox’s life took a drastic turn. 

“It couldn’t be…” Nick muttered as his claws tapped on the keys.

…pawpsickle…

When the screen changed Judy gasped and Nick simply stared in surprise. “It figures,” the fox grumbled. “He left me bread crumbs to follow…”

“What? Bread crumbs?” Judy asked perplexed. “Like that fairy tale?”

“Oh, yeah,” Nick said as he scanned the different icons that came up, most just repeats of the files and notes he and his wife had found in the office. “I think he knew that whatever he was getting into his…cover, whatever was blown. He knew they, whoever they are, were onto him. He left this stuff for me to find.”

“But why didn’t he come to you directly? Or ZPD? He’s smart enough,” Judy observed.

“He might not have had anything solid. The department’s stretched thin, hunny-bunny. We can’t go chasing our tails on everything and Finn would’ve made sure that he had solid evidence.” None of the files, the few that were on the hard drive meant anything. Still not giving up hope, Nick plugged the thumb drive into the appropriate port.  
“It needs a password, too,” the bunny grumbled.

Nick nodded as a smile tugged at his muzzle. “It does, but he’s already given it to us. It’s right there,” he said and pointed at the double ‘T’ in marker. He tapped in toot-toot and the menu for the miniature storage device opened. “Everything is related to our last hustle together…”

“Yeah. I remember it,” Judy said with a wry smile. “Leave it to you to turn something as sweet and innocent as flippin’ ice cream into a money making scam.”

“I’m a reformed fox, now,” Nick replied distractedly as he brought up a file full of pictures. “Huh. That’s the ice cream joint near Zootopia University…the youth hostel…” he muttered. “Finnick was curious about this place for some reason.”

Images from multiple angles showed the hostel and frozen treats parlor, mammals of nearly every species hanging out, coming and going from both establishments and a few businesses in between, but no indication of what the desert fox had been interested in. Another curiosity was all of the images seemed to be taken about the same time.

“Let’s see what else we’ve got on here,” the fox said as he opened another file folder.

The file contained pictures of young mammals along with short descriptions of them, basic statistics such as height, weight and age, but it was Judy that saw the correlation half a second before her mate.

“Nick? They’re all females, sixteen to nineteen, and all of them are foreign exchange students,” the bunny pointed out with a frown.

Nick nodded. “All of them were here and working as au pairs or nannies, look,” he said with his claw tip pointing out occupational information. “I know the affluent citizens of our fine city hire from overseas to give their kits and so on exposure to other cultures, and it works out for the students that want to study abroad. It gives them money while they’re here, a place to stay…” He swallowed hard and felt the few bites of his sandwich turning to lead in his stomach. “Carrots? All of these girls are missing.” He highlighted one, a young lynx from Europe. “Here studying engineering…excellent bilingual skills…heck of a list of recommendations. Plus she knew first aid, cooking…”

The bunny’s look turned to one of horrified disgust. “Do you think…?” she left it hanging.

“The only thing I can think of is mammal trafficking,” Nick said with an identical expression as his wife. “Shit, Finn,” the fox muttered. “What did you get yourself into.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, no real notes to put up. If anyone is interested, I based Nick and Judy's new wheels on the Equus Bass 770, a truly phenomenal example of modern American muscle car! 
> 
> That and I'm continuing my previous development of Bogo as a composite of several individuals that I've known throughout my life, the first and foremost being my own father.
> 
> As usual, thoughts and comments are certainly appreciated!!!


	4. Chapter 4

The visit to the hospital revealed that Finnick was still unconscious, the small desert fox hooked up to a bank of monitors and screens that, as far as Nick was concerned, provided too much information that he saw as very personal. A sensor was gently clipped to one finger of the paw that was strapped down so if he did regain consciousness for some reason he wouldn’t pull out intravenous lines that carried whole blood, saline solution and nutrients to the supine form. A feeding tube had been installed as well as a catheter and drainage shunts. Nick vaguely recalled rearranging the sheet and blanket that covered his friend, wanting to preserve the fennec’s dignity. He and Judy sat with him for a while until Chryssie arrived looking worn and haggard. No one said a thing as she placed a plastic vase of flowers on the bedside stand before taking a chair and holding the dust colored fox’s paw.

When the tanuki started telling Finnick about her day, how Nick and Judy were taking care of her before singing to her significant other, Nick had to leave the room, his eyes burning with tears that threatened to spill over. Judy found him in the hallway outside the hospital room and silently wrapped her arms around him as he sniffed and silently wept for the other fox that had become like a brother over the years they’d known each other.

“I need to go speak with Bogo,” Nick finally said as he got himself under control and stood up from where he’d bent over to hold onto his wife. “I want to fill him in on what we think is going on and I need to spend some time on the department terminals to see if I can corroborate any missing mammal cases with the stuff off Finnick’s computer. Did you want to come with me?”

Judy thought about it for a moment before answering. “I’ll stay here with Chryssie. As soon as she’s done I’ll take her home and meet you there. You can fill me in on what the Chief says when I see you tonight.”

“Are you sure?”

The bunny nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think she’s taking this too well,” Judy told him as she gestured back towards the room. She stood on her toes to plant a kiss on her mate’s mouth. “At least dinner’s covered. We never got a chance for those rolls I made and they should still be good.”

“Sounds like a plan,” the fox agreed. “Just save me a cold beer. I have a feeling I’m going to want one by the time I get back.”

The couple said their good-byes and Nick headed to the parking garage, the keys already in his left paw as he stepped from the cool air conditioning of the hospital to the slightly humid warmth of the air outside. It wasn’t difficult to get to the car and he turned the key, bringing the large engine to life. Normally he would have gotten a little thrill at the sound of the massive V-8 echoing throughout the parking deck, but he was too preoccupied with the different variables that he and Judy had uncovered on the portable computer and thumb drive. 

All of the images they’d found had been young females, both predator and prey species. The only thing any of them had in common was that they came from foreign countries and were all young females with no family in the city. That fact alone made them easy targets for some of the less savory criminal elements of Zootopia.

Granted, Nick and Finnick had been a part of the Zootopian criminal population, but their scams, cons and hustles had never actually hurt anyone. They’d always been jobs where Nick and Finnick would divest those that had more than enough of their own money that they wouldn't miss a little of it, and normally for some product or another. Neither he nor the desert fox had gotten into drugs or violent crime, and certainly nothing that would tear apart families. Each had known personal loss far too intimately to do something that heinous. 

That didn’t mean they hadn’t encountered individuals that had far less than the two foxes in the way of ethics, morals or conscience. Both Nick and Finnick had met their fair share of deviants that would happily knife a mammal for nothing more than a pack of chewing gum. It was those darker elements that Nick liked to focus on bringing down as a cop and it seemed that there was no shortage of thugs.

However, if Finnick had actually stumbled upon those that profited from mammal trafficking and the years of misery for all parties involved, Nick was more than determined to shut them down. One thing that he and his friend had in common was the belief that you didn’t do anything to children, ever.

Despite having left to go confer with Chief Bogo, Nick found himself in the neighborhood that he grew up in. Like the area of the city where he and Judy now lived, Unity Square was an older neighborhood, the buildings not the gleaming edifices of downtown or the swanky multihued apartments of Little Rodnetia. Unity square was comprised of buildings constructed of brick and cast concrete from decades before, most of them turned into low-rent housing. Structures that the city had condemned but hadn’t had a chance to either demolish or renovate had squatters living behind the boarded up windows and doors. It was the area that the down and out flocked to. Whole families packed into a pawful of rooms and crime was rampant.

It surprised the fox that he’d driven to this part of town, almost as if he’d been traveling on autopilot. He hadn’t done that in a while, though back in the day when he’d ambled off to collect his thoughts it had been on foot instead of in a car. As he looked around Nick realized that this place, and the others like it throughout the city, were one of the reasons he’d taken his wife up on her push for him to become a cop. 

Zootopia was broken, of that there was no doubt. And while he believed it could be fixed, Nick doubted it would be during his lifetime. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try, though.

The fox’s foot pressed down on the brake pedal as the traffic light ahead turned red and as he waited for the cycle to change, Nick looked around at the set of blocks he found himself at. On the diagonally opposite corner was the little convenience store that Nick had gotten more than one meal from when he roamed these particular streets. Further down the old bobcat that was dutifully out with his little espresso cart from sunrise to sunset was getting ready to pack up for the evening. Old Thomas could be counted on for a good cup of coffee rain or shine. The bobcat was moving a little more slowly, his joints a bit stiff with age and arthritis, but it didn’t stop him.

Nick even remembered the smells that wafted in through his open window, the scent of ancient masonry that had seen decades of rain and sun, hot summers and cold winters mixed with cooking smells from the various apartment homes, a mélange of different cultures, and under it all the smell of garbage that had sat a little too long in alleyway dumpsters.

It wasn’t a smell that got the fox’s attention just as the light changed, it was a scream that was cut off too suddenly. His ears swiveling as he rapidly scanned the area and years of living in the very neighborhood enabled Nick to determine where the sound came from. Stomping the accelerator hard enough to bark the tires and make the huge engine growl, the fox slung the powerful car around the corner and up onto the sidewalk on two wheels before slapping the shifter into park and yanking out the keys. Academy training along with his regular workout sessions trying to keep up with Judy enabled Nick to dart into an alley, dodging around garbage or leaping over piles of debris as he sped towards the sounds of distress.

In a nook concealed from the street, the light poor with the sun so low in the sky, a group of mammals had another trapped, Nick taking in the scene as he approached.

“What did we tell you, stupid bitch?!?” the largest of the mammals, a whitetail deer that had just started sprouting his autumnal antlers was saying while his cohorts, also deer, were stomping little glittery pieces of debris into powder. “This here’s Herd turf, an’ you ain’t no doe, is you?” The sound of a fist hitting another and a high pitched ‘Ooof!’ and whine of pain followed as a fourth deer dropped a much smaller figure on the filthy paving of the alley. The speaker then aimed a kick at the curled up form. “Fuckin’ fox! Gonna learn to stay out our turf, aincha?”

“Let’s shave her tail!” the one that had been holding the fox that now lay barely moving said as he pulled out a switchblade.

The situation was rapidly deteriorating and before he knew what he was doing, Nick’s paw was filled with the grip of his tranq pistol. “FREEZE!” the fox bellowed. “ZPD! Arms in the air!”

The quartet of deer looked as if they were ready to bolt at Nick’s shout until the leader lost his surprised expression and began to smirk. “Ain’t no real cops! Just ‘nother fuckin’ fox,” he jeered. “Yer kind just don’ learn, do ya?” He pulled his own switchblade out, the knife making a cold ‘Snnnkt!’ sound in the confines of the alley.

“Oh, I’m a real cop all right, this is a real badge and this is a real gun,” Nick said coldly as he held up his open wallet while keeping a bead on the four cervines. “Drop your weapons and put your arms up and get on your knees. Now!”

“He ain’t gonna do nuthin’,” the leader persisted. “Get ‘im!”

Two of the deer hesitated, however the leader and his crony that suggested shaving the downed fox’s tail started forward, blades held at the ready. Without even hesitating Nick squeezed the trigger twice. Had the weapon been an actual firearm he might have hesitated, but the tranquilizer darts were about as benign as they could possibly be, and the fox had to admit that there was something disturbingly satisfying about dropping two of the gang members and seeing the faces of the remaining pair who let their own weapons fall from suddenly nerveless fingers.

“Okay, boys,” Nick said as he edged forward, the muzzle of his sidearm pointed precisely between the two remaining bucks. “I’ll say this again really slow so you understand. Arms up. On your knees, or you join your buddies in la-la land. Get me?”

The two remaining deer dropped so suddenly that Nick couldn’t help but wince as four cervine knees impacted hard with the asphalt. He tucked his wallet into his belt as he pulled out tough nylon zip ties and moved towards the deer. Judy had taught him the hard way to always, always, be prepared to cary out his duty as a police officer whether he was in uniform or not, and it was now second nature to make sure he had at least the basics of equipment on him. Once the two still-conscious gang members were secured, Nick took care of the pair of sleepers. He then moved to the fox that was still curled up on the ground and seeing her eyes closed drew closer to see if there was a pulse in her neck, hoping that this wasn’t going to turn into a homicide. The last thing Unity Square needed was a turf war between preds and prey.

As soon as he touched the vixen she was up and swinging on him, Nick barely catching the swipe, her fingers fully extended to expose claws that had been filed to sharp points. His own paw wrapped around her wrist and he twisted just enough to put pressure on the joints on her elbow and shoulder, but not enough to actually cause damage.

“Owowowowow! Okay! You win!” the vixen cried, trying to turn so that her arm wasn’t being wrenched any further. “You ain’t gotta tear my arm off, ya know!”

“No. No I don’t,” Nick agreed. “But are you going to behave? If not I can truss you up with your playmates over there or put a dart into your leg. It’s your choice.”

“Nah,” the vixen said, amber eyes flashing in the fitful light making it into the alley. “We’re cool.”

Nick hesitated a moment before letting the other fox go then fished his phone out and called in for back up. Once that was done he looked at the items the deer gang had been stomping on as the other fox tried to salvage what she could, tears of frustration leaking from hard eyes.

“I can’t believe this!” she muttered darkly picking up what looked to be a glass pendant hand wired with a jute cord. “That was like thirty dollars worth,” she said before looking at one of the sleeping bucks with narrowed eyes and her ears laid flat. Moving surprisingly fast she was up and had landed two rapid kicks to the unconscious deer, her lips pulled back to reveal flashing white fangs and teeth as she snarled in anger. “Dirty, stinkin’, grass eatin’ bastard!” She growled as Nick lifted her up and set her back down with him between the vixen and deer gang. “That was like a week’s worth o’ rent and food!” she said and pointed to the mess of ground glass and stones mixed with bits of copper wire and cords as she stared at Nick, her face completely miserable before kneeling on the ground with what little was left of her goods and cried bitterly.

“Did you make this jewelry?” Nick asked as he tried to help find salvageable bits.

“It’s the only thing I can do to make a livin’,” she husked. “No one ‘round here will hire a fox unless it’s for...,” she shook her head. “You know…” When Nick handed her a couple of pieces that looked like they could be fixed she put them in a wooden box that had seen better days before looking up, her expression one of surprise and recognition. “Hey…HEY! You that fox cop I saw in the paper a while back! You’re him, aincha?!?”

“In the fur,” Nick said as he picked up another piece that was well beyond repair.

“What brings you down to this shithole, fox-cop?” Her look became one of sly challenge. “Cruisin’ fer a piece of tail, huh? Maybe looking for little nip-and-tickle?” Her own tail thrashed the air behind her. “Hey, maybe you want somethin’ young and fresh, huh? This is the place where you can get any flavor you want so long as you got green in yer pocket, you know?” She snorted derisively. “Everything and everyone’s for sale down here, fox-cop.”

“I know,” Nick said quietly. “I used to live here.”

The vixen blinked, jerking slightly when she heard sirens off in the distance drawing closer before she remembered that she was the victim and if one of ZPD’s mammals, a fox himself, was helping her maybe she wouldn’t get busted along with the Herd gang members. “Used to, huh? No shit. Got out and now you’re in fat mammal heaven aintcha?”

“Not by a long shot,” he told her before noticing that her paw was scraped pretty bad. “Let’s take a look at that,” Nick prompted as the first cruiser pulled into the mouth of the alley. The vixen’s palm pad was raw and bloody and he held it up to slow the bleeding as the first of the officers to respond came into the alley. “Officer Wilde,” the fox said as he held up his badge. “You got a first aid kit?”

The uniformed officer was a tiger who nodded. “Do we need an ambulance?” he asked as his paw went to the radio mike attached at his left shoulder. 

“Negative. Just a first aid kit.” Nick thought about it and nodded to himself. A standard issue kit would have all the things he needed. The tiger returned after half a minute, giving the fox the first aid package from his cruiser. As other units arrived and the deer were placed in the different cars, Nick worked on the vixen’s paw. He used a bottle of saline to flush dirt and debris out first.

“Eeee-yah! That stings, damn it!” she hissed with a scowl.

“I know, but you don’t want crud in there to stay and an infection develop. And the next thing’s going to be worse, just so you know.” With the warning given, Nick sprayed the injured pad with an antibacterial solution that caused the vixen to yowl softly while smacking her feet on the paving as fresh tears sprang into her eyes. To help her out he blew softly onto the abrasion until she calmed, noting the sting began to vanish when her other paw unwound from where it had been gripping the fabric of her dirty jeans. Once that part was over he slathered ointment over the wound that had both antiseptic and anesthetic elements and finished off by wrapping everything in gauze. “That should do it, though you’ll want to keep an eye on it. If it becomes swollen or red or starts leaking nasty colored gunk, go see a doctor.”

“Like a doctor’s gonna help a fox,” she quipped with a snarly tone. “And ‘specially one that can’t pay!”

Nick pulled a card out of his wallet. Then he thought about it and slipped most of the cash he had out as well. “If you need a doctor, you tell him to call me and I’ll take care of the bill. In the meantime this should cover the loss of at least some of your stuff.”

The vixen took the card without looking at it, and the money, her amber eyes bulging slightly. “This is like a hundred greens!” She looked at the other fox then tilted slightly and glanced at where the other officers stood before leaning a little closer to Nick. “Uh…is this your way of sayin’ you…um, want something more?”

“What?” Nick asked before her meaning became clear. “No, no. Just…just trying to pay back a favor someone did for me a while ago.”

“Musta been one hell of a favor,” the female said. “Hey, uh, I know you’re a cop and famous and all, but…um, what’s your name, fox-cop?”

“Nick. Nick Wilde.”

“Nice to meet you, Nick Wilde,” she said with an actual smile and tilted her head in what was meant to be flirtatious. “I’m Renee.” She offered her uninjured paw. She was breathing a little hard that had nothing to do with the assault. “So, Officer Nick Wilde, you…um…you got anyone waitin’ for you at home?”

Nick recoiled a little when he realized the vixen’s interest. “I’m sorry if I misled you, Renee, but I’m married.”

“Oh,” the vixen grunted, her ears and tail drooping slightly a half second before they perked back up. “Happily?”

“Very happily mated, thank you.”

Renee’s eyes hardened as her ears and tail fell again. “Figures. First decent cop I ever meet happens to be a fox and he’s married and mated.” She picked up the box that held the remains of her homemade jewelry and started off. “Hey, uh, thanks for saving my tail and all…yeah. I’ll, uh, catch you ‘round, a’ight?”

Before he could do or say anything the vixen took off down the opposite end of the alley, disappearing into the early evening. As he turned to make the necessary report to the four officers that had shown up for his back up call, Nick realized that though interested and sending off all the right signals, he hadn’t been tempted in the slightest by the vixen's offer. If anything it made him think even more of his bunny wife and getting back to her as soon as his meeting with Bogo was concluded. 

The encounter did have the effect of getting him to consider a different angle of the case he was on, and that it might not be a bad idea to enlist extra eyes if he and Judy needed them.

**********************

The bar that Bogo had informed Nick to meet him at was just inside the downtown portion of Savanna Central and the fox had little difficulty spotting the Chief of the ZPD inside a place called ‘The Corral’ despite the crowd. As with the few other times he’d seen it, Nick thought Bogo looked odd without his blue uniform on, the cape buffalo dressed in a comfortably worn T-shirt and black jeans. With the clothing that he was now wearing the bull could easily have passed for a motorcycle enthusiast. As the fox approached his eyes widened at the beer mug his superior lifted and took a long drink from, the container with frothy golden liquid would have made a bathtub for either him or his wife. He wondered if it would have been more efficient to simply give Bogo a keg of his own.

Before he could approach close enough to let the bull know he was there, Bogo looked down and nodded before indicating they should go further back into the bar and found a booth for them that sat just outside the short hallway for the restrooms. Nick had to stand on the bench to see over the table as the cape buffalo slid easily into his side with a sort of fluid grace that belied both the bull’s age and size.

“What’ve you got, Wilde?” he asked in a low tone, though his deep voice was still storng enough to vibrate both the table and mug of beer.

“Judy and I found Finn’s personal computer notebook,” Nick began and brought it up before spinning it around. “He was following leads on missing exchange students, au pairs, nannies, all female, all foreign, and all missing. I don’t remember seeing any of them on our alert boards and would like authorization for remote access into the ZPD system.” He let his boss look through the information while wondering just where Bogo had hidden his glasses. “We haven’t had a chance to look into it yet, but Finn was interested in this area near the university, particularly the hostel and this ice cream parlor.”

Nick watched as the bull frowned. “It’s good work, but not enough yet,” he cautioned. “Have you gotten anything else?”

The fox nodded. “I poked around a little more and found a name that came up a couple of times that sounds familiar, but I can’t place it. A Constance Reneaux. I feel like I’ve heard it before, but I can’t place remember where and it’s driving me bug-nuts.”

“That doesn’t surprise me, Wilde. You and Finn knew every major criminal kingpin, pickpocket, thug, mugger, con artist, hustlers and jay walker from the Meadowlands, Sahara Square to Outback Island. What’s to say you’re going to remember every hoodlum out there in the who’s-who of criminals encyclopedia. Access granted, though,” Bogo quipped with a wry look, shocking the fox with an attempt at humor. He drained half the mug in two swallows before bellowing for a refill and a beer for Nick. “Anything else?”

Nick was about to speak and went quiet before the waitress, a cow with pronounced curves that Bogo eyed surreptitiously dropped the fresh drinks on her tray at their table and sauntered off, her tail swaying counter to the roll of her hips though she did toss the Cape buffalo a gentle smile. “I think I know why you come here, Chief. Fine bit of heifer there…”

“Can it, Wilde,” Bogo grumbled despite the immediate flaring of the insides of his ears to a serious pink hue.

“Actually there are a couple of things. The first is does the ZPD have trackers for undercover officers, something small but powerful. The second is what are the payment requirements for CI’s?”

“Talk to the mammals in equipment issue about the trackers. I know they have small but powerful ones with almost a mile radius, even in the downtown sector. As for payouts to confidential informants, what makes you think that we pay for information?” the Cape buffalo countered.

Nick’s eyebrow went up. “Chief, I knew a lot of cons that made some pretty good bank rolling over for the department before I went straight. I’ve also seen the budget reports with the CI account information as part of the standard quarterly allotment for the ZPD.” He smiled when he caused the bull to choke a little on his beer. 

“That’s a need-to-know only file, Wilde!” Bogo told him menacingly, his brows compressing the fur and flesh between his eyes.

“I needed to know. Can I get an authorization form? And my informant would like cash. A decent sum, if you don’t mind. Helping me on this is going to be a challenge and I have a feeling it’ll put her in danger. Especially if these goons were willing to stab Finnick to keep him quiet about whatever he was onto.”

Bogo pulled out his phone and made notes. He continued to operate the touch screen without looking up. “I swear, fox, if I find out your bank account goes up by the same amount as a CI payout I’ll have you chucked in to the deepest, darkest hole there is, even if I have to dig it myself…”

Nick reached across the table, no easy task as wide as it was, and put a paw on the cape buffalo’s arm. “Have I done anything to make you doubt me or Judy?” he asked sincerely.

Bogo looked up, the scowl disappearing. “No, Nick. You haven’t. But this…it’s dicey at best. Just don’t screw this up,” he directed the fox once more.

“Hey, Chief!” Nick said in a bright tone with his best hustle grin. “It’s me!”

“That’s what worries me,” Bogo muttered as he turned back to his phone.

*******************

It would take a day at the very least to set up a remote secure access to the Zootopia Police Department's database, and Nick had slipped in to the precinct as quietly as possible to head to the cubicle he and Judy shared to log in and begin a search for Constance Reneaux. When the information came up the fox frowned as it showed up on his screen with the header, 'Investigation in Progress' though it was also tagged with a notation to the file of 'No Leads'. Technically it was a cold case, but until some headway was made it would stay in the pending category. 

Nick frowned as he looked at the picture that was attached. Constance was a sable from France, eighteen years old and rather cute. She'd been missing for almost a year. The file contained information of her last known address, employer, and her reason for her work visa. Constance had been a student at Zootopia University studying languages with aspirations to become a teacher. As for her last address in the city it had been the youth hostel that Nick had found in Finnick's laptop. Just as Nick got ready to begin a cross reference a voice caused him to jerk his head up.

"Hitting it rather late, aren't you, Wilde?" a rich baritone asked.

The speaker was one of the detectives that had welcomed Nick when he had to spend time with the investigations division right after the Academy to get firstpaw experience with investigative and evidence collection procedures, Lewis Roarson being a calm, almost gentle mentor. The cougar was one of the older veterans of the ZPD, nearing retirement in a few years. He draped an arm over the divider of the cubicle and gave Nick an easy smile.

"You know how it goes," the fox replied easily enough. "If I don't keep up on my paperwork I'll never hear the end of it from Judy."

The feline snorted in wry amusement. "Yeah. I swear that bunny of yours was born to wear blue," Lewis agreed. The smile faded as the detective grew serious. "I saw that there was a stabbing over in your neighborhood. A fennec. Friend of yours?"

There was genuine concern on the cougar's face and Nick nodded slowly. "Yeah. Old friend of mine."

"How's he doing? Is he okay? I haven't heard anything about murder investigations for a desert fox..."

Nick sighed. "No. He's not okay, and to be honest no one's sure he's going to make it. They have him in a coma, but..." the red fox shook his head. "It's not looking good, Detective Roarson."

The large cat shook his head. "Call me Lew, 'kay?" He grunted and shook his head again, a sympathetic expression on his face. "Look, you need anything, you or Judy both, you just let me know, alright?" Roarson gave the other officer a thumbs up before turning and walking away, his tail twitching a couple of times in sporadic jerks before the feline vanished around a corner.

The offer was appreciated and Nick felt a little better before turning back to his terminal and bringing up as much information as he could locate about the hostel and surrounding area of the University district, corroborating missing persons reports.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I am adding a little to the story as I go to clear up little plot holes and fill them in with details that were inadvertently omitted the first time 'round!
> 
> And I've said it before and I'll say it again, there are characters that I'm enjoying my little suppositions as to their development, case in point being Bogo. I do see him as a far more in depth character than what we've seen in the movie, the jaded cop that wants to do what's right, but after so many years of standing against crime, corruption and the darker elements, is growing weary. So it is that there's new purpose and determination instilled in him with the newest generation of officers. And really, who could blame him after the Night Howler Conspiracy? One Mayor shut him out completely, a dreadful mistake that could have had greater impact, and then another that was actively trying to destroy society so she could remake it in her image. I could see how that would adversely affect Bogo's resolve, but he comes through and once more takes his place as the compass of his department.
> 
> Thoughts from y'all?


	5. Chapter 5

Judy looked at herself in the mirror and cringed slightly with what she saw. Gone was the silvery gray fur, white smudged muzzle and shapely ears tipped in black. If anything she looked like one of her littermates, her fur a golden yellow with white that ran from her muzzle and down to her thighs and all the way up past her ears and faded at some point between her shoulders. “Nick?!?” she wailed, no longer liking the idea of going undercover. “I look like Marigold!”

“No you don’t,” the fox replied with a completely straight face. “You’re prettier.”

Judy wheeled around, her expression flitting back and forth between dismay and being completely one hundred percent pissed off. “I. Want. My. Color. BACK!”

“Then we’ll find someone else to go undercover,” Nick told her as he pulled out his phone to call Bogo. Before he could even move his thumb over the pattern that would unlock his iCarrot Judy’s paws landed on his, a pleading look on her face. He dropped the device back into its customary place and took her by the shoulders. “I can’t let you go in your own colors, bunny-love,” he said with genuine concern. “You’re too well known. To be honest I don’t want you going in at all…” the fox began. When his wife opened her mouth to protest, her eyes flashing dangerously he stopped her from a tirade by the most expedient means possible and kissed her. “Now,” he began again as they parted, “I know that you’re capable, that you are so much more than a bunny. It doesn’t mean I have to like it, though. It’s the only way to get you in there. But the whole concept of me not being there, of not having eyes on you at all times is making me sick to my stomach, okay?”

Judy let the truculent pout that had started form dissolve into a warm smile before she threw her arms around his neck and held her husband tight. “You do love and trust me!” the bunny enthused.

“Of course I do,” Nick answered as his arms held her right back. “You’re my wife…my mate. I’ll never stop worrying. But I also trust you enough to do the things that you need to do. It’s part of the package, lover.”

“And the transmitter is working? If I get frisked it won’t be found?” she inquired still enjoying the close contact.

“There’s three overlaps. One in your clothes, another in your shoulder bag and the third is in the pendant with the necklace acting as the antennae.” Nick sighed and relaxed a little in his wife’s arms, trying to hide the knot of fear in his gut and chest. “Although I’m still wondering if I might be able to pull off going in drag…”

Judy chuckled and pulled back a little so that she could stroke the fur on her mate’s face. “It wouldn’t work. You’re too…um…guy to pull off a skirt. And your walk’s all wrong. It’s good for a guy, not so much for a girl. You’d look like you were suffering serious feminine issues.”

Nick made a face, his tongue sticking out in distaste. “Thanks for that image,” he muttered. “You know what time your appointment is?”

The bunny nodded as she pulled away but didn’t release her hold on the fox’s paw as she led him from the bathroom to the bedroom. “Just about dinner time day after tomorrow. And the false reference number is all set up. Bogo has one of the detectives playing former employers seeing my whole persona is an au pair.”

“What about your accent?” Nick asked.

“I was an acting enthusiast when I was younger,” the bunny replied, her voice higher and softer than normal with an English flavor to her tone and pronunciation. “I think it’d be a good idea to watch ‘My Fair Lady’ again, though,” Judy told him.

“You’re just saying that because you love that movie,” Nick told her with a smirk as she turned to face him.

“I do. Not as much as I love you…” the bunny admitted before stepping closer to the fox and playing with the edge of the shirt that her husband wore. “You know, we won’t get a lot of time together after tomorrow night…”

Nick nodded agreement. “You’re right,” he said completely straight faced. “You’ll be going undercover; I’ll be covering you from outside ready to call in the Razorbacks if things go sideways.” He hoped it wouldn’t be necessary to call in one of the most respected SWAT teams in the ZPD as the fox gave his mate a kiss between her ears. “Guess we better get some sleep, huh?”

Judy let her mouth fall open for a moment before shoving her husband onto the bed and leaping on top of him. Her paws pinned his wrists while she straddled his stomach, the look the bunny gave Nick one of absolute seriousness as she leaned over, her nose a fraction of inch from his. “I spent all day bleaching and dying my fur so that I doubt Mom would recognize me. Tomorrow I’m making a sweet, innocent, fluffy target of myself and to top it all off my cycle is in full swing.” She didn’t even blink as she spoke, Judy as serious as her mate had ever seen her. “Now, I’m not wearing anything but my own soft fur, ears and little cottontail, and I am in the mood.” 

“I wish I could, but you don’t look enough like you,” Nick told her with a feigned expression of concern. “It would be like cheating! I couldn’t do that, no, ma’am, uh-uh.”

“Nicholas Piberius Wilde you are going to get undressed one way or the other and you’re damn well going to make me so happy my toes don’t uncurl until morning! You get me?”

Nick looked at his wife for a moment before surging upward with all his strength and flipped both of them so that he was lying atop his mate, his head darting forward to gently savage her neck causing the bunny to squeal with delight as he both tickled her mercilessly and turned her on. Judy was torn between involuntarily shrugging into her shoulders and wanting to throw her head back to allow Nick easier access. It was maddening and as she struggled she found her husband had pinned her wrists in a complete reversal of their previous position.

“Take me…” she grunted, Judy’s breath catching as her fox nuzzled her along the side of her head then neck before working his way down to tease her breasts, the bunny arching upwards. “Nick…please…” she whined desperately.

When the fox got on his knees to begin undressing Judy determined that he was moving too slow and helped him out, turning into a reason to have her paws all over her husband, enjoying the feel of muscle and the shape of her fox beneath the multilayered fur coat that was creamy on his front and turned into rich orange-copper with brown highlights. Not for the first time the bunny looked at her mate and felt the thrill she always got seeing him like this run through her. He was beautiful to her, everything perfect and lovely. Finally he slipped out of the last of his clothes and loomed over her, a feast for her eyes that whetted the desires in her body.

When Nick pushed her back on the bed it wasn’t to make love, not yet, and explored every inch of his wife using scent and taste, finding all the places that fueled her erotic appetites, licking, nipping, and teasing her until he delved into a place that was his and his alone. “Niiiick…!” she husked, her legs on his shoulders as her paws scrabbled for purchase, coming to rest behind his ears as she urged him deeper, the warmth of his maw and breath beating against her like a tide comprised completely of carnal sensation as he devoured her, relentless in a way only a predator could be. When she reached her pinnacle and fell into orgasmic oblivion all Judy could do was grip the fur of her mate's neck, robbed of even her voice as her eyes rolled back.

Only when she sucked in a ragged breath, the crescendo that her fox had brought her to did he join with her, his motions slow, gentle and so very tender. Judy arched hard, her paws releasing the comforter on the bed to grasp his shoulders as she pulled herself up to meet her mate. They gazed at each other as warmth, motion and friction came together in a symphony of ecstasy and for the second time Judy was tumbled into a pink tinged world of blissful delight. As she regained her senses, shivering with the afterglow that coursed through her, Judy looked up to see Nick staring down at her with complete openness, his defenses gone. She was surprised to find him trembling and as he stayed where he was, both still joined in the most intimate of ways, his finger pads caressing her face with an almost reverent touch.

“Don’t take any chances, Judy,” he breathed. “If it looks bad, run. If these are the ones that tried to kill Finn…if they’re doing what we think they might be, get out. We’ll find some other way of taking them down.”

“I…I will,” the bunny finally agreed. “I’ll be safe,” Judy whispered, looking into his emerald eyes. “I’ll have you looking out for me. I’m always safe when you have my back.”

Nick sat up, hauling the bunny with him and crushed her to his body, still engulfed in her warmth but needing a different form of contact. As Judy’s arms wrapped around his body she could feel the shivering tremble that shook him and it had nothing to do with their love making. He was genuinely afraid in a way she hadn’t seen since the Night Howler case and it melted her heart. They were both trained officers, but this was new territory for both of them. They’d always worked together in the open before this, now they would be separated, running their first undercover operation. The fox might be worried about his mate, but the bunny was worried about her husband.

“We can do this, Nick,” she crooned, her head resting in the hollow of his neck and shoulder. “We’ll get them and shut them down.”

“I know,” he answered softly.

Judy smiled when she felt him take a deep breath and let it out, a good portion of the tension and uncertainty leaving his body. As for other things more physical, the couple was still joined and the bunny couldn’t help it as she began to slowly rock her hips, Judy’s breath coming out in a stuttering sigh as she closed her eyes and felt her lover delve as deeply as he could into her. Perhaps it was the position, or the fact that they still clung to each other, but long minutes of her gyrations brought both of them to their peek almost simultaneously and the exquisite agony of release was so much sweeter, so much more intense and they held on until the storm of passion passed.

Words were superfluous, everything they wanted to say…needed to tell the other having been done with the contact of their bodies, the brush of lips against lips, the caress of paw and in guileless gazes full of love. Moving slowly fox and bunny lay down on the bed, Judy wiggling herself deep into the hollow formed by her mate’s body as she pulled his tail over her and held it with one paw while the other twined with Nick’s as he held her tight.

Morning would bring a new challenge for them to face and they did so knowing they trusted each other implicitly. With a sigh Judy slipped into sleep followed by her husband, the whispered ‘I love you,’ from both being meant with the deepest sincerity and wholeheartedly believed.

*******************

“So, you want me to just set up shop and keep an eye on this bunny of yours?” Renee asked as she ate the egg and soy patty breakfast croissant that Nick had brought her, her feet dangling off the block wall she sat on near the small park that lay in the center of the Unity Square neighborhood. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Nick said as he took a small sip from the steaming paper cup of coffee. While fresh and prepared just the way he liked, the brew left a sour taste in his mouth that had nothing to do with the drink and everything to do with the fox’s concern for his wife.

The vixen regarded him with shrewd, bright amber colored eyes. “Sound’s easy enough,” she began before her eyes narrowed. “But what’s in it for me? Something for something, you know. I ain’t hangin’ my tail out for some mammal I don’t even know.”

“You do this,” Nick said, understanding why the vixen was more interested in getting what she could out of it as it hadn’t been all that long ago he’d been the same way himself, “and I’m authorized to make payments from the ZPD the same as if you were a CI…a confidential informant.”

Renee’s ears perked up and her tail twitched in interest even though she maintained the same suspicious expression. “How much are we talking here?” the vixen inquired. “The university district’s a hike, you know. And if you want me to lug my jewelry around…”

“Two hundred,” Nick told her.

“For the whole deal? You gotta do better than that, fox-cop! I wouldn’t se-“

“A day,” he said cutting her off. “With an additional five hundred at the end of the investigation. Cash.”

The vixen made a show of thinking about it. There was an urge to see if she could up the ante, but what was being offered could make a huge difference, even if it was only a day’s worth of her time. She could pay for almost two months rent and groceries and maybe some more supplies for her jewelry if it lasted a week. “A’ight, fox-cop,” the vixen agreed as she held out her paw, smiling slyly when the other fox took it. “You got yourself a deal. So what’s first?”

“First we get you some clothes that don’t have as much dirt on them as a farmer’s field in the Burrows,” Nick said. “And a shower for you. If you’re going to be hanging out in the university district you can’t go around smelling like you’ve just crawled through a dumpster.”

“Huh,” Renee said with a nonchalant expression. “Maybe it’s ‘cause I just crawled through a dumpster ‘fore you showed up. Gotta get the stuff I need to make my jewelry from somewhere, you know.”

Nick snorted. “Yeah. I know. Let’s go then. We have a lot to do and not a lot of time to get it done.” He stepped around the front of the car and got in, Renee opening the passenger door a moment later and looked at the seat.

“Um, why’s there a trash bag covering the seat?”

“Because it’s not really my car.”

Renee paused and looked down at herself. “Yeah. I guess I am a bit of a mess. Sorry,” she told him in a small voice, clearly ashamed of the exact state she was in once she thought about it.

“Don’t be sorry. Like I told you yesterday, I grew up around this area. I know what day to day survival means,” Nick told her.

“Did you ever have to dumpster dive for food?” the vixen inquired sarcastically.

Nick nodded as he started the car and dropped it into gear. “More times than I care to think about, to be honest.”

“Yeah? Well…I wouldn’t have to do stuff like that either if someone would give me a chance!” Renee snarled. “A few foxes screw a mammal over and all of a sudden all of us are bad guys! You don’t see mammals acting like that with raccoons or…or ferrets!”

“Actually, I do. I see it every day. All mammals, one way or the other, have their little prejudices. Some are overt, some are covert.”

The vixen blinked. “Whazzat mean? Overt?”

“It means that someone shows how they feel instead of trying to hide it, or that something is out in the open, readily seen.”

Renee looked at the other fox with a curious expression instead of something bordering on defiance. “You schooled, Nick? Like college or something? You talk all smart like.”

Nick laughed and turned the car towards downtown. “I wasn’t always a cop, Renee. I encountered the same prejudices you do. I bought into it for most of my life so I made my way as a con artist, hustler, what have you. You can’t do that for as long as I did and stay dumb. Hustling takes intelligence more than just street savvy. So I never stopped learning. I spent a lot of time at the library reading, using their computers to broaden my horizons. Just because you feel you’ve gotten the short end of the stick doesn’t mean you can’t do something to better yourself.”

The vixen cocked her head quizzically. “So, how’d you become a cop?”

“I was shown that I could be more than what others saw me as,” he answered. “You want to see things stay the way they are? Then continue looking out for yourself. With that attitude Zootopia wil always be exactly what it is now. But,” Nick said, a sly smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, “if you want the city to become what it’s supposed to be, then you have to help make it so. It’s not easy, but you, me, the mammals we’re passing right now…all of it…it can be better but it takes work and people that won’t quit the first time something doesn’t go quite right or the going gets hard.

“That’s when you call your friends, the mammals that really matter, and you make those changes happen.” He glanced to the passenger side seat and nodded before tapping his chest. “The real change begins in here, though.”

“You sound like one of them goobers,” Renee commented.

“Excuse me?”

“You know! One of those religious guys from the other side of the world or wherever it is that have all those sayings like you get in a fortune cookie or somethin’. A goober.”

Nick couldn’t help but laugh for several long seconds before he got himself under control. “Guru. The word you’re looking for is guru. They’re sort of spiritual teachers, but their wisdom comes from books and teachings that were written many hundreds of years ago.” He thought about it and realized that the street-tough vixen had actually paid him a compliment. “And thank you.”

Renee rested her chin on her knuckles, her arm propped on the door as she looked out at the city as it slid by. When they pulled up to a building that looked about as old as the ones in Unity Square but cleaner, the vixen tilted her head. “So what’s here?” 

“A shower, clothing and meeting the other officer you’re going to be helping me keep an eye on.”

Renee followed the other fox with caution clearly displayed in her mannerisms and the way she held herself. She watched Nick open the door and step inside, holding it open. She walked inside, her eyes taking in everything. When they fixed on some of the electronics the vixen’s mouth fell open as her eyes bulged. She’d already sniffed the air as she entered and looked at the other fox. “This is your place?”

“It is,” he agreed readily. Nick stepped past the table and cupped his paw to his muzzle. “Hey, Carrots! We’re back!”

A moment later the only other door in the place opened up and a yellow furred bunny came out. Renee had scented rabbit in the apartment and watched as the other female came out and nodded to her with a smile before going to Nick. They shared a kiss that was more shocking than the high end amenities that the vixen had seen.

“This is Renee. She’ll be my extra eyes. Renee, this is Judy,” Nick said with a sparkle to his eyes that hadn’t left the bunny.

Renee blinked slowly, her mouth falling open even more. Not only was Nick a police officer, something unheard of with foxes, but he was openly affectionate to a prey mammal. As the bunny drew closer she could smell Nick’s scent marks on the sunny colored rabbit and shook her head in amazement. She jerked as soon as she realized the bunny was speaking to her.

“Actually it’s Officer Hopps-Wilde, but I'll be undercover, so yeah, I'm Judy,” the rabbit said as she held out her paw to the vixen, noticing that they seemed to be battering the poor fox’s sensibilities. “Come on. I’ll show you where the bathroom is. I hope you don’t mind cucumber-honeysuckle fur shampoo. It’s got a nice light scent and will leave your coat nice and soft. Oh. And there’s a couple of brushes you can use,” Judy continued as she led the vixen back to the bedroom and from there the shower. “Right in here. Towels are there, so…”

Renee stopped and looked around, still unsure what to think or do until the bunny gently took her wrist and physically pulled her closer to the shower. Judy got the water on and turned back to the fox.

“Don’t be uncomfortable. Take your shower, enjoy it. There’s a robe here for you when you’re done and lunch will be ready. After you come out we’ll discuss the details of what you’ll be doing and how I can contact you if something happens.” Judy tried to give the vixen a reassuring smile and dodged out the door leaving the fox alone.

With nothing stopping her Renee began to pull her clothing off, setting it in the corner and out of the way before getting under the spray of hot water. There was never hot water available in the building she had her one room apartment in and the feel of the hot spray was unbelievable. She let it blast most of the accumulated grime that cold water never got out of her fur. The vixen let the deluge from the nozzle pummel her for several minutes before grabbing the bottle of soap that the bunny had pointed out and poured a generous dollop into her paw before working it in, her claw tips massaging it past her guard hairs, through her undercoat and into the skin underneath.

It was unlike anything she could remember ever experiencing before and by the time she soaped and rinsed herself from her ears to her tail tip, Renee had to start all over again for the sheer pleasure of it. She was so lost in the feeling of being properly clean that the knock on the bathroom door startled her.

“Renee?” Judy asked from the other side. “Is everything all right?”

“Uh…yeah!” the vixen replied. “Um…just…uh…just finishing up!”

“Okay. Lunch is ready so come on out when you’re ready. Oh, and the fur dryer is in the corner. Brush while you use it or you’ll get knots in your outer coat.”

Renee looked in the corner having seen the strange device but hadn’t known what it was. She found the brushes and stepped onto the vented surface, finding the switch. As soon as she tripped it she was surrounded by a swirling gust of warm air that made her yelp in surprise and couldn’t refrain from grinning. Was this how regular mammals lived all the time?

Once over her initial shock Renee applied the brushes, at least knowing what she was doing with those and smiled with the feel of her fur coming out soft and luxurious like never before. As soon as she switched the dryer off, the vixen’s stomach rumbled with neglect, the breakfast sandwich having worn off earlier, and threw the robe on, her nose burying itself in the soft, fragrant fabric as she tied it off and opened the door. Judy was on the other side putting clothing on the bed and looked up with a smile.

“You look like you feel better,” the bunny said with a smile. “Ready to eat?” The smile grew as the vixen nodded silently. “Let’s go. And we can talk about what we need from you when things start to go down.”

The plates of food on the dining room table both looked and smelled incredible and Renee found herself salivating at the offerings. She sat in the indicated chair while Nick and Judy took places next to each other. Unsure what to do next the vixen sat with her paws on her thighs as she let her eyes drink in the sight of lunch, so many different things that she’d never seen before, what in her mind were delicacies she’d never tried… At the sound of the other fox clearing his throat Renee looked up to see the two mammals looking expectantly at her.

“Guests first,” Judy said with an amused glimmer in her amethyst eyes.

With a nod Renee began to scoop food on her plate with a muttered, “Thanks.” She tried to get a little bit of everything, the sheer amount that sat before her more than she’d normally see in almost a week. As soon as she had her plate loaded the vixen grasped a spoon in her clenched paw and shoveled her lunch in with gusto. 

After five minutes of cramming her muzzle full and gulping vegetables, seared soy strips and a variety of greens disappearing, Renee paused to regard at the other two who were pointedly not looking at her. It was then that the fox realized that she was making a spectacle of herself and lowered the spoon, her ears flaring in a deep blush of embarrassment.

“Um…sorry…” she mumbled around a mouthful, swallowing hard as her ears folded back in chagrin.

“Sorry for what?” Nick asked as he put his fork down and looked at the other fox. “For being hungry?” He shook his head. “First, it makes me feel good to see someone appreciating my cooking. Secondly, I told you I know what it’s like for you. I was there. I got out of it, but I remember. The thing is, when all of this is done you have a choice.”

Renee knew that he wasn’t talking about the food and listened carefully, her ears twitching upwards.

“You can either change things, or you can go back to where you were and what you were doing. The last? That’s easy. Help us and walk away and life goes back to what you know,” Nick told her matter-of-factly.

“The first choice,” the bunny began, picking up the conversation, “well, it’s going to be a lot of hard work. It’s going to be frustrating, and you’ll want to quit. But if you do make it…that’s something that no one will ever be able to take away from you.”

The vixen nodded and returned to her lunch, albeit at a much more civilized pace, as the other two resumed eating. Afterwards there were bowls of fresh fruit and sherbet that the bunny got before they discussed the details of what Renee would be doing. 

As per Nick’s instructions she’d put her box of jewelry out each day, selling what she could, but mostly it was to watch Judy, where she went, what she did, who talked to her. If the vixen made any money off of her wares it was hers above and beyond the CI fee that Nick would pay. At the end of the day she was to leave the area and call the other fox on a cell phone that he would give her. They would be covering overlapping shifts and if there was any problem she was to either call Nick, or get in touch with the ZPD if the fox was unavailable.

“And that’s it?” Renee asked.

“That’s it,” Judy told the vixen. 

Renee sat back in her chair and stifled a belch, feeling as if her stomach was the most full it had ever been in her life and rubbed her paws at it absently, feeling more than a little drowsy. “So what’s the big deal here?” she inquired, her mouth frowning slightly. “Or can I not be told ‘cause I ain’t a cop?”

The couple glanced at each other, apparently the two able to communicate more than the vixen could detect with just expressions and a shrug here, a raised eyebrow there, a little bit of an ear twitch, and all of it happened in a few seconds. Was that part of what it meant to be married? To be mated? Of course that concept, a union between a bunny and a fox still caused Renee a bucket load of confusion. Not to mention how the bunny, Judy, wasn’t afraid of her despite being a predator. The whole situation made as much sense as that whole Alice story and the bizarre landscape that was Wonderland…

“Mammals have gone missing from the area were checking out,” the bunny finally said. “No trace, all of them foreign and exchange students and the like, all of them female, and all of them young. We think a friend learned about this and was almost killed for it. I’m going undercover to see if he was right.”

Renee blinked slowly, her paws gripping the edge of the table. “Missing girls, a friend near gets killed, and you’re gonna check it out?” the vixen asked with an expression of disbelief. “So…are like all cops crazy and suicidal?” she asked in a patronizing tone.

“Crazy? Definitely,” Nick said as he leaned back with a glass of blueberry juice. “Suicidal, not so much.” He took a sip and pointed with one finger lifted from the glass. “This is that thing I told you about. The making a difference. Sometimes it’s dirty, sometimes it’s dangerous. But it needs to be done if any of us want what this city is supposed to be.” He sat forward and rested his elbows on the table and gave the vixen a penetrating stare. “So now it boils down to are you in, or are you out? This is the real deal, now. The question is, what’s it going to be?”

Renee thought about it and glanced at the other fox who seemed to be looking into her soul, apart from the intensity of his eyes the rest of his face was completely neutral. The bunny didn’t look at her at all, and that was probably the most disturbing thing because there was a knowing smile on her short muzzle. 

There was something else, though. Something disturbing that stirred in the vixen that, try as she might to ignore it, kept growing. It was a sort of curiosity to see if she had what it took to make a difference. She didn’t know why, but in the space of a few heartbeats it flared into a kind of obsession. Nick had broken free of the stereotype others pegged foxes into and look at his life now.

Could she do the same?

With a sigh, fairly certain that all of it would end in disaster, Renee nodded once. “Okay. I’m in. I think I’ll regret it, but I’m in.”

She wasn’t sure, but the vixen thought she heard Judy mutter, “Gotcha!” under her breath while Nick gave a solemn nod before the ghost of a smile pulled at his mouth. 

“Then here’s what’s going to happen…” Nick began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really like Renee! She's an interesting character that I think has some real story potential! What says y'all? Inquiring writers wanna know!!!!


	6. Chapter 6

By far the most difficult part of the undercover operation was trying to dress the way a European rabbit that was seven years younger would and Judy spent almost an hour in the small mirror of her room making sure that her outfit was as convincing as possible. To be honest wearing a dress really wasn’t her thing, much preferring jeans or her uniform. It was, however, the sort of ensemble that a younger rabbit from Europe would wear. A loose blouse and vest with short sleeves and skirt in blue and green print went well with her new yellow and white fur, but Judy still felt uncomfortable.

Clip on earrings at the base of her long ears completed the set up. And she finished just in time. Glancing at the aged digital clock that was part of her room at the youth hostel Judy picked up the simple shoulder bag, a European accessory that appeared stylish but inexpensive, the sort of thing a young mammal would have. Pausing just long enough to lock her room door, Judy bounced down the stairs, waving to the hedgehog behind the reception counter before stepping into the bright early afternoon sun.

It was the seventh interview with a placement agent that Judy would have in the past twenty four hours, one of the ones that Finnick had had on his lap top but didn’t have a chance to look into. Utilizing other resources that Nick and Judy had access to, namely the network established by Mr. Big, had revealed that four of the other agencies were completely legitimate. It was the independent placement agents that were either too new to really have any sort of file, or had padded their records with false information, but it was impossible to tell which. After discussing it with Nick they had come up with the only viable option being Judy posing as an exchange student looking for work as an au pair.

“Apple and hibiscus tea, please,” Judy asked from the meerkat behind the counter of the café next to the hostel. She kept her voice low and soft, only adding to her feigned accent and smiled demurely as the paper cup was passed to her after giving the smaller mammal her money. 

From there Judy headed outside to the tables that sat in a small cordoned off section, finding a spot in the shade of a large umbrella that would allow the rabbit to watch the goings on of the boulevard. The table enabled Judy to look out at the busy street in the middle of the city’s university district. Cars and buses ambled slowly along the wide avenue, though most of the activity came from the mammals that roamed about. There were numerous small businesses from curio shops and boutiques to cafes and restaurants. Musicians found little nooks to set up at, though kept a polite distance from other buskers, and street dancers floated between the other performers, giving themselves over to whatever sound struck their fancy.

It was a simple vendor across the street from the hostel and café that Judy was at that gave her a sense of comfort, the red furred Renee selling her paw-crafted jewelry made with materials that the rabbit and her husband had gotten the vixen while she kept an extra eye on things. And that, of course, meant that Nick was close by. It was a testament to her husband’s knowledge of Zootopia that Judy knew he was there, but had no idea where the cunning fox might be. He was close, though, and that was all that mattered.

Her tea halfway gone, Judy fought the urge to look at the inexpensive and colorful watch she wore and was saved from fretting too much as a limousine pulled up to the curb in front of the café, a lynx exiting the driver’s seat and walking briskly to the rear of the luxury car to open the door. Her ears perking up, Judy watched as the feline held a paw out for the passenger. 

The one that got out of the limo was a rabbit doe with dunn and light tan coloring that was complimented by the earth tone business shirt and jacket she wore. Judy watched as she strode to the café, her movements crisp and indicating one that was in control of every facet of her life as amber brown eyes locked onto Judy. She stopped only when she’d come around the railing that delineated the tea shop’s patio area from the sidewalk and held out a paw. “Julie Leapford, I presume.”

Judy set her tea down and stood, her paws running down her own dress to straighten any wrinkles as she ducked her head and extended her own paw. “Yes, mum!” she replied in a slightly higher pitch than she normally spoke, her accent perfect after working with Nick, who surprisingly enough had run more than a few hustles by pretending to be from another land.

“You are certainly a surprise. Not what I was expecting at all,” the older bunny said with a smile. “You’re much more than I was anticipating.” The rabbit pulled out one of the chairs at the small table and sat down without any wasted effort, though she made even that economical motion seem graceful. “I was expecting someone a little…frumpy.” Once situated the doe continued after motioning for her lynx driver to fetch her a drink.” 

The rabbit made a show of setting her hand bag just so, her oddly large smart phone also being placed precisely. All of it was choreographed, calculated to give an air of authority and control to the business mammal, and she maintained her silence until her driver reappeared with a cup of tea. After that it was all amenable smiles and friendly expressions, though she never dropped the posture that broadcast that she was in charge.

“Before we go any further, I’m Natasha Dyyvol. I’ve taken the liberty of contacting your last employer. You indicated that you’re an experienced au pair and are good with children.” As she spoke Natasha opened Judy’s fabricated references and resume that she and Nick had come up with. “Let’s see, you’re skilled in first aid, passable cook and are familiar with various domestic chores. These are correct?” She waited for the younger bunny to nod. “The previous family you worked for was rather fond of you. In fact, it sounded as if they’re rather sorry that they had to let you go.”

Staying in character Judy let her ears fall as if she were embarrassed. “I suppose, mum.”

The older rabbit let her expression soften a little bit. “Well, it does make it a challenge when moving to another city to bring the help along.” Dyyvol closed her phone app and rested her paws on the table. “What I’d like to ask next are some personal questions. They’ll certainly help in finding a good place for you. I’m sure you don’t mind, do you?”

“Oh, not at all, mum,” Judy replied demurely.

“Excellent. Now, you say you’re nineteen, and that you applied for work as an au pair to get experience with life in other countries. Certainly admirable. You’re only young once and new experiences can be rather exciting, can’t they? So, tell me about back home. Any family? It’s information that we need to have on record as a precaution.”

Judy shook her head. “Just an aunt that I stayed with. I don’t really have any other family than her and we haven’t kept in touch all that much, mum.”

Natasha Dyyvol smiled slightly. “I see. What about a boyfriend? Surely a pretty doe like you has a young buck waiting for her to come home?”

It wasn’t so much the question that made the fur along Judy’s spine try to raise, but the manner in which it was asked. Pushing down the sense of disgust and alarm that Judy felt, her year and a half as a law enforcement officer honing what Nick called her ‘Cop Sense’. He said he’d had the same thing as a street hustler and that it was a developed survival trait and to listen to it. “I didn’t have a boyfriend. My aunt didn’t really approve of boys.”

The other rabbit leaned forward, almost as if she were leering at Judy, though effort was made to keep the expression friendly and interested, though it didn’t quite come across as that. “Julie, are you telling me that a pretty thing like you has no experience with boys?” she inquired. "None at all?" 

When the younger bunny hesitantly shook her head no Natasha Dyyvol laughed throatily and leaned to the side setting a paw on Judy’s knee, squeezing it in an overly familiar fashion. It was all that Judy could do not to pull away and lash out, pushing down the sudden urge to kick the other doe into next week. It was precisely at this moment that she realized the monumental effort that it must take for officers undercover to maintain their roles. The fact that there was something truly sinister going on that effected so many helped Judy steel her resolve.

So great was the struggle to keep her persona intact that Judy almost missed what the older bunny was talking again.

“Don’t worry about something so trivial,” Dyyvol was saying, her paw still on Judy’s knee. “Boys come and go, as you’ll learn soon enough.” When she finally removed her fingers from the other rabbit’s leg it was to retrieve her phone once more, opening the screen and notebook app. “Well, I think that I have a position that you would be perfect for.” Natasha turned her amber eyes to the younger bunny. “What says you, Julie? Interested?”

Judy was still locking down her initial disgust, fortunately it added to her youthful innocence and naivety. “A position, mum?” she finally squeaked out. “With a good family?”

Natasha finished her tea and stood, nodding in approval when Judy also stood. “I guarantee that I can place you with someone that will be very, very appreciative of you.” Her paw dipped into the designer purse she carried and reemerged with a card that she passed to Judy. “I have your number and you have mine. I can arrange a meet and greet in a couple of days if that’s acceptable. And I’ll send Mister Sanders to collect you.”

Judy nodded, trying to portray youthful enthusiasm as she bounced a little on her feet while clasping her paws in front of her. Apparently it was just the right thing to do as the older rabbit smiled and nodded. 

“Excellent,” Dyyvol said and once more extended her paw. “I’ll call to notify you in plenty of time to get ready and will see you soon.”

As she spoke, Natasha clasped the younger bunny’s paw and reached up and brushed her fingers over the fur of Judy’s cheek then down her neck before turning and heading for her limousine, the driver already having the door open.

Judy resumed her seat and watched as the car pulled off, joining the flow of traffic, doing her best to quell the feelings that she was experiencing. Dyyvol had fostered feelings of unease in Judy. That unease had turned into anger with the way that the older doe had pawed at her in what was a very familiar manner that left feelings of disgust as it was the similar way that randy young bucks had acted when Judy was in school. Maintaining her cover, Judy spent a few more minutes at the café before returning to her hostel room. 

Once the door was shut she all but tore her clothing to get it off, feeling as if the garments were now somehow unclean and tainted. She flung her top away and shucked her underwear, all of the articles landing in the corner then leapt into the tiny bathroom that was included in her room. It wasn’t until Judy was in the middle of her second round of soaping up that she was glad that the dye job was long lasting otherwise she would have scrubbed her disguise right off. As it was Judy relented in her washing when it actually started to become uncomfortable. 

Eventually Judy’s feelings of unease began to dissipate and her cop mentality reasserted itself. Shutting the water off the rabbit wicked as much moisture as she could out of her fur and wrapped herself in what for her was a large towel and flopped down onto the bed while picking up the burner phone that she’d gotten to replace her normal iCarrot. Her fingers flew over the number that she’d memorized, the same number that had been provided for her false employment contact. The gruff voice on the other end was almost as comforting as hearing the voice of her husband.

It didn’t take long to relay her progress to Chief Bogo and when he pressed the rabbit for her impression, Judy reluctantly informed her superior of her feelings of unease around the other rabbit. Once her report was done, Judy hung up and leaned against the pillow on her bed as her conscious mind tried to go over the reasons why Dyyvol set her teeth on edge. There was no one thing that was overtly wrong, but put them all together and Judy’s gut clenched.

Of course, there was the manner that Natasha Dyyvol had touched her. From another mammal that she knew it wouldn’t have meant anything, and would’ve been comforting even, but the older doe made it unsettling.

Shaking her head, Judy sat up and finished drying off before dressing in one of the other outfits that she’d brought with her. It was too late for lunch, and too early for dinner, but she felt the need to nibble on something, and be around others. A pang ran through Judy, the doe suddenly missing her family.

Most of all, though, she missed her Nick.

******************

Streetlights had started to wink to life with the setting of the sun and Nick lowered the binoculars that had all but become extensions of his paws as he watched the hostel and Judy throughout the day from the multilevel parking garage. It was beyond frustrating seeing how the meeting with the latest placement agent had affected his wife, the fox able to tell by a number of little signs, mannerisms that most people wouldn’t recognize. 

And it was driving him completely insane to not be able to hold and support the rabbit that had captured his heart and become his wife. 

Nick watched as Judy disappeared into the hostel for a bit then emerged in fresh clothes and stopped at the café once more before ambling around, visiting a few of the small shops, boutiques and bookstore. Wherever she went it was with crowds of young mammals until she decided to return to the hostel for the evening. They’d already worked out that Judy would circulate with the other young mammals in the hostel in an attempt to get more information.

As he leaned on the ledge of the parking garage deck Renee made her way towards Nick, her case with the homemade jewelry in her paw. The vixen looked a little tired, but not so much as she did when Nick first met her. A solid diet had helped her to start filling out, and her fur was much healthier looking. She popped the door open to deposit her case that had folding legs attached to it to also function as a display table.

“I should have been coming here all along,” Renee said somewhat cheerfully. “I might have to get some more supplies. The mammals here really like my stuff!”

Nick nodded and glanced back to the hostel. “Glad to know that you’re doing well,” he admitted, trying to keep his tone neutral and friendly. It wasn’t easy with the whole situation, and the quick call to the hospital had brought the news that there had been no change with Finnick. “Did you hear anything?” 

Renee nodded. “There’s a guy that works the bistro that’s willing to talk later tonight when he comes in for work.” The vixen’s paw went to her stomach as it growled a little. “Sorry. I think lunch ran out about two hours ago and smoothies only do so much.”

“It’s okay,” Nick replied and smiled a little at the appearance of a car at the top of the ramp. “Our relief just pulled up and as soon as I talk to our back up we’ll go get some food.” He watched as a familiar figure pulled up into the spot alongside the Merlin 770, his smile warming in relief. 

The car was an old Gryphon Motors Fireball, another great example of classic muscle, though instead of coming from the ZPD’s motor pool, belonged to a mammal that had proven to be a good friend to both him and Judy. Francis ’Del’ Delgato nodded from his place behind the wheel as he shut the engine off, rolling his eyes theatrically as his passenger continued a line of complaint that had apparently been going on for some time.

“He’s barely past being a rookie and he’s heading this up?” the cheetah in the passenger seat growled unhappily as she crossed her arms over her chest and let her lips lift in an expression that was as far from a smile as could be, her citrine eyes flashing dangerously as the tiger opened the door.

“Nick knows more about the goings on in the city and on the streets than you ever will,” the tiger shot back, Delgato’s voice a low and dangerous snarl. “You got a problem with him being lead on this you can take it up with Chief Bogo or drag your tail back to Precinct Four, I don’t care either way, but you will show Nick the courtesy and respect he not only deserves, but has earned.” Without waiting for a reply the tiger flung his seatbelt away and got out, the fur around his neck bristling, before slamming the door shut and cutting off any potential reply.

Nick raised an eyebrow. “Problems?” the fox asked as he joined the tiger at the back of the Fireball, Delgato drawing in several deep breaths as he counted softly under his breath. 

“You could say that,” the tiger affirmed. “You can’t convince me that this is Benji’s cousin. Sherri Clawhauser. Benji got all of the sugar and spice, that’s for sure. She’s chock full of piss, vinegar and attitude. Three years on the force, doesn’t play well with others so Bogo took her on as a personal favor to Ben and then assigned her to me.”

“Gee, color me surprised. Well, she’s your problem, and I think I might be glad of that.”

“You’re all heart, Wilde.”

The red fox gave his friend a smarmy grin. “Yes. Yes, I am. Carrots is in for the night. Her window is the one with the white lace curtains. I’m going to take my new partner out for some food and then some sleep after we come back to talk to a potential witness.” Nick paused as he headed for his car. “You’ll let me know if anything happens?”

Del nodded solemnly. “You know I will. Get out of here. I won’t let anything happen to your wife, Nick.”

Reassured, the fox smiled wanly and got in his car, pointedly ignoring the female cheetah that was glaring at him with enough irritation that he could feel her yellow eyes tracking him. “So,” Nick began as they exited the parking garage and turned onto the street, “are you ready for the best pizza in the city while we wait for your contact to get here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now that things have mellowed out and I was able to replace the missing #6 chapter...
> 
> You know, I both love and loathe computers sometimes! And I think I've been able to maintain continuity, but I may have missed a detail or two, so keep your eyes peeled and forgive me if I slipped up, 'kay? ;)


	7. Chapter 7

Renee held her stomach and moaned in abject misery as the car rolled over a rough patch of road, her eyes tightly shut with her head on the edge of the door so that the cooler night air could flow over her ears, the rushing noise helping to alleviate the headache that was starting to develop.

“Do we need to stop and get you some grass juice from the drug store? Maybe some Pepto Bismaw?” Nick asked in concern.

“I…I don’t know…” the vixen said between pants, her tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth. “C-c-could…could you just shoot me?” Renee pleaded.

“Sorry, copper-butt,” Nick told her with a sort of sad amusement. “I warned you to slow down.”

“But it was so good!” the fox declared before groaning again in misery.

“Yeah. That’s why Judy and I go there, but you don’t see either one of us eating a whole pizza by ourselves.” Nick looked up and saw the sign for an ‘A-paw-thecary’, one of the most successful pharmacies in Zootopia. “Okay. We still have a little bit before we have to meet your hyena friend. Give me a moment to go get you something.” 

The fox hit the turn signal and turned into the parking lot for the store, the vixen again moaning with the jostling of her overly full stomach. He shut the car off and took the keys out of habit before going inside, smiling at a pair of Thompson’s gazelles that came out, the ungulates giving the fox sideways looks before stepping wide and hurrying to their convertible econo-box.

“And a good evening to you, too, ladies,” Nick told them with a flourish and bow, smiling as they made noises of surprise and disgust before locking the doors to their car, apparently not realizing the futility as the top was down. Still smiling he walked into the store and eyed the signage for the aisles before heading to the one that contained different remedies for digestive ailments. As he perused the offerings, Nick noticed that he had a shadow in the form of a rather chunky panda that looked as if he were a black and white version of Benjamin Clawhauser. Turning back to the shelves he found a mint flavored bottle of grass juice, the preferred cure-all for tummy troubles that all canidae turned to.

Grabbing one bottle before realizing that he might have to spend longer on the stakeout than just a couple of days and what effects too many snacks could have, he grabbed a second bottle before turning for the register. As soon as he hit the end of the aisle the panda was right there with him, a couple of times almost stepping on Nick’s tail he was following so close. The course to the cash register led him down the candy aisle and with a grin the fox stopped so suddenly that the two toned bear almost ran over the fox before he could fully stop. Not even looking up from the selection of sweets, Nick spoke, a mischievous glimmer in his eyes.

“You know that profiling a customer because of their species is against the law, right?”

The panda bristled and hoisted his belt a little higher around the girth of his stomach, which did little good as the belt and blue slacks slipped back down to where they’d started. “You getting smart with me, fox?” the security guard asked with a sneer.

“No. Actually I’ve been smart for a while, which means I’m fairly sure that I have a good head start on you. Now, why don’t you trundle back to the fur care section. I’m sure that somewhere back there is a product that could help you with your oily facial fur.” Nick picked up two bags of hard candies, one a mixed fruit bag that had blueberry flavored drops, the other a mix of carrot and strawberry. He didn’t see the connection between the two flavors, but he was sure Judy would appreciate it at some point. 

When he turned to resume his journey to the register the panda put his paw on Nick’s shoulder and spun him around. “I think I should check to make sure you ain’t shoplifting nothing,” the store guard said with malicious intent causing his dark brown eyes to narrow.

“That’s really not recommended,” Nick said, the humor from his face draining away to be replaced by a stone cold sober expression. “The only time a customer may be stopped for questioning regarding suspected shoplifting is only after said customer has left the interior of the store premises and only by a sanctioned officer of the Zootopia Police Department. Oh, and the touching me? Yeah, that’s assault. Don’t push it, all right?”

“You’re awful demanding for a no-good fox,” the panda said as his large paw dipped towards the baton hanging from his belt. “I think maybe you need to set that stuff down and leave.”

“No,” Nick said in his most sarcastic tone. “I’m not going to leave. I’m going to take these things up to the register and buy them,” he said in a low tone with exaggerated slowness, sounding for a moment like his friend Flash the sloth. “Then I’m going to leave and go back to work.” A bag of nothing but blueberry flavored candies with a liquid center caught his eye and he snagged that one as well, tucking everything under his left arm. When the sound of the baton scraping along the ring it hung from made his ears perk up, Nick lowered his head with a shake. “You really are going to push it tonight, aren’t you?”

“I said it’s time for you to leave!” the panda growled, his upper lip curling enough to show his teeth.

“And I’m telling you I’ve done nothing wrong and you need to leave me alone,” the fox told the guard, all levity gone from his voice.

As soon as the store security guard raised his arm Nick sprung into action, his right foot catching the other at the side of the knee while his right arm shot forward. If applied properly, even a much smaller mammal could take a larger one, and the fox guided the panda all the way to the vinyl tiles before twisting the guard’s wrist so that he released his baton. With the bear’s arm immobilized, Nick’s knee pressing against his throat, he dropped the things in his left and pulled out his wallet, letting it flip open so that his badge glinted in the bright fluorescent light. 

“See? Now you’ve irritated me by making me late for a stakeout that’s rather important, assaulted a police officer, acted in a racially motivated hostile manner, and made me angry because discrimination is a truly ugly thing.” Tucking the wallet into his pants, the fox pulled out a set of cuffs, slapping one of the adjustable alloy steel bracelets against the panda’s wrist before hauling him up and yanking his other arm back. “You’re nothing but a bully, aren’t you? Picking on smaller mammals just because you can. Does it make you feel good? Hmm? Maybe a little thrill of empowerment? You know what? Let’s go talk to your manager and see what the boss has to say!”

Nick got the panda on his feet, the guard’s eyes rolling a little wildly as he began to hyperventilate slightly. Keeping a hold of the chain between the cuffs, the fox managed to pick up his purchases and walked with his prisoner to the register. He slapped the items down on the counter, making the oryx behind the register jump and drop her romance paperback while the large pink bubble from her gum popped loudly and got stuck in the fur of her muzzle.

“How’s it going?” Nick asked the oryx, one arm on the counter as he gave her his most charming smile before plucking his wallet from where it dangled at his waist. “Officer Wilde, ZPD. Is your manager available?” The oryx doe nodded silently, the burst wad of gum looking like poorly applied lipstick and gave the ungulate a rather comical expression. “Excellent. Can you call him or her up here, please? I’d like to lodge a formal complaint. Oh, and you can ring these up, too. Thanks, you’re an absolute doll,” the fox said. “Isn’t she adorable?” he asked the panda. “Ooopsie! Almost forgot I need to call this in!” He slipped his phone out and called the reception desk at the Precinct One building.

The oryx picked up her counter phone and paged the manager with one hoof while zapping the bottles of stomach medicine and bags of candies with a pawheld scanner in the other. All the while the panda had started sniffling loudly, his eyes getting even more desperate by the second.

Just before Nick got an answer the store manager bustled up. “Is there a…problem?” the antelope asked as she looked at her store guard, the fox and the oryx, her expression one of ultimate confusion.

“Oh! Hey, Clawhauser, hold on a sec, will ya? Got a thing going on here and might need backup, okay? Gimme a sec, will you?” Nick set his iCarrot phone on the counter and looked at the antelope. “How are you tonight, ma’am? I was wondering if it’s usually store policy to allow your security guards to act in discriminatory and hostile behavior towards customers based on their species like I was?” He made sure that as he spoke he shoved his badge less than an inch away from the antelope’s nose.

“What? I-I-I ha-have no idea what you’re talking about, o-officer!” the manager stuttered. “Louis! Did you harass this fox? What have I told you about that!” Despite her age, most of her muzzle and the tuft of hair that ran between her horns and down her neck being white, the older antelope was surprisingly fiery and grabbed a bouquet of cheap flowers wrapped in cellophane and began to whack the panda repeatedly. Within moments bits of multihued petals and stems were flying all over the front of the store, the display even causing a few would-be customers to flee as the antelope began swearing in tirade that would have singed paint off a wall.

“Whoa! Easy, ma’am!” Nick said while trying hard not to laugh at the feisty prey mammal. “I put cuffs on him and he’s technically my prisoner and I can’t really condone him being flagellated with foliage in such a ferocious manner.”

“Oooo! Louis you wait until I tell your mother!” the antelope sputtered with a fury that actually worried the fox a little. She gripped the shredded stems so hard that her hoof shook. The manager turned her attention to Nick. “I think you should put him in lock-up! Might teach him some better manners!” When she started to look for something else to smack the panda with the decision was made for the fox.

“Well, I really don’t have time to run him down to the precinct with the present investigation I’m on,” Nick told the antelope. “If I release him to your custody can I trust you to have a long talk with Louis here about species profiling?”

The antelope nodded. “Most definitely, Officer…?”

“Wilde. Nick Wilde, ZPD.”

“Oh, we’re going to have a very long talk about this!” The look the manager gave the panda was intense enough that a small part of Nick was glad he wasn’t on the receiving end. “Alyssa, put Officer Wilde’s purchases on the store account. I’ll mark it down as an expenditure,” she ordered as the fox removed the cuffs and tucked them back into his belt under his vest. “Oooo! Louis! I swear you’ve turned what little color I had left in my hair white!” She reached up and took one of the chunky panda’s ears between her hoofed fingers and twisted as she led him to the end of the nearest aisle before sending him towards the back with another swat of the abused flower stems to his backside. “You go get that shirt off then get the broom, mop and bucket and start getting this store spotless! Go on! GIT!”

Nick watched with wide eyes as the manager came back, wondering why the store needed a security guard in the first place with a hellion like the manager. When she saw him pulling his money out the antelope shook her head with enough vigor that the mylar balloons near the register were suddenly in grave danger of being perforated. 

“You put that away, Officer Wilde. It’s the least I can do after that silly panda’s behavior!”

“I can’t do that, ma’am,” Nick said with a smile of gratitude. “It constitutes an abuse of authority and the gifting rules. I don’t want to use the fact that I carry a badge for undue gain.”

“Aren’t you just the model police mammal?” the manager said with a matronly pat to his cheek, her smile warm for a few seconds before her face hardened and her expression became almost lethally serious. “You’ll take your purchase anyway. Louis will pay for it and the receipt’s going up in the back so he’ll have to look at it every time he clocks in as a lesson to behave.”

Nick shrugged and smiled. “I will bow to the wisdom of my elders,” he told the manager, realizing there was no way to win the argument otherwise. By the time he turned around the bottles of grass juice and candies were bagged up and waiting, the young oryx behind the register trying to get the strands of bubblegum out of her muzzle fur. “Peanut butter works great for that,” he whispered as he picked up his phone. “All clear Benji. Thanks!” the fox said and dropped the device back into his pocket. “Well, here’s to a better night for all!” Nick told them and slipped out the door.

What he’d hoped would only take ten minutes had actually consumed twenty and as Nick drew near the car he hoped that Renee hadn’t been too bad off with the delay. He was slightly perplexed at the lack of the vixen in the passenger seat and looked around, wondering if maybe she’d decided to head back to Unity Square until Nick heard a moan from the back corner of the store. Dropping the bag into the car after pulling out one of the bottles of medicine he found the other fox sitting on the sidewalk, her elbows set on splayed knees as she rested her head in her paws. Between her feet was a substantial pile of her dinner.

“What a waste of great pizza,” Nick commented as he cracked open one of the bottles. “Here. Just a swallow or two.”

“I…I think I ate too much…” Renee lamented as she accepted the bottle and took two large gulps, her tongue sticking out as her face scrunched up. “Urrghl! Wh…what is that?!? Oh, god! It’s…it’s horrible!”

“It is,” Nick agreed with a curt nod. “But it’ll help. Maybe next time I tell you to slow down you’ll listen.”

“You’re…right…” the vixen agreed as she began panting again. “But…it really was good!”

Nick sat down and patted the other fox on the back. “Yeah. So good you got to enjoy it twice. But you aren’t used to food that rich. Not to mention all of the soda you had. Too much sugar as well.” He watched as the stomach medicine took effect, the color in her ears turning from disturbingly pale shade with a green tint to something more normal. “Better?” he asked as Renee’s panting slowly subsided as well.

“I think I’m going to live,” she joked weakly. “I feel like I’ve been worked over, though,” the vixen admitted as she placed her paws over her stomach. “I hate throwing up.”

“Yeah. It’s not an activity most mammals enjoy,” Nick replied as he stood and offered the other fox a paw up. “You’ll get even better over the next few minutes. I’d like to go talk to your hyena friend now.” They moved towards the vehicle Bogo had given Nick and he paused as he opened the door. “By the way, thanks for not puking in the car. An involuntary personal protein spill would have wrecked the upholstery and I’d never have been able to get the smell out.”

Renee simply looked at the red fox sideways with a distinct frown before giving him the middle finger of her left paw.

“Aww. You wound me, copper butt,” he said with a smirk before slipping behind the wheel.

*******************

“Yeah,” the hyena said as he chucked a bag of kitchen garbage into the dumpster behind Helmiczi’s Bistro. “I seen that car and the bunny in it a lot over the past month.” He wiped his paws on his jeans before tugging on the low neck of his black tank top shirt. He crossed arms over his wide chest. “So…what’s this to you?” he asked in a voice flavored with a slight growl as he stared down at the two foxes, alternating from giving Renee softer looks and outright scowling at Nick.

“A lot of mammals have disappeared in this area,” Nick said. “They all stayed at the hostel, were foreign girls and I’m wondering what my friend discovered that got him knifed and near killed,” the fox told the hyena as he looked up at him. “If something bad is happening, I want to know what it is and shut it down.”

The vixen nodded, a small smile pulling at her muzzle when she saw the little necklace she’d made from a lozenge of pearlescent glass and copper wire rested in the fur just below the hyena’s throat. “He really does, Erebus. Nick’s a friend.”

“Ain’t my friend,” the larger male said as he leaned forward slightly for a long moment before sighing. “But…yeah. All those girls came in here sooner or later,” Erebus told the pair as he gestured to the pawful of pictures that Nick had in conjunction with the case file he’d put together. “Most of ‘em were nice…really wouldn’t give a hyena like me the time of day, though…”

Nick saw the flash of discomfort on the other’s yellow-brown eyes. It was something that the fox understood all too well…that look of longing…of wanting to belong. “Did the girls get into the car willingly?” he asked. “Did it ever look like any of them were forced against their will?”

Erebus shook his head. “Not the ones I saw.” He picked up and tossed another bag of garbage into the dumpster before scowling at the fox. “Why are you hassling me? I told you everything I know. Just blow off already, shorty!” Before the hyena could take more than a step Renee was there with her paws on his chest.

“Please!” she said, her voice and the look in her amber eyes more effective at stopping the larger male than a wall would have been. “This really is important. Don’t fight.”

“You know, you’re awful nosy for a small guy,” the hyena grumbled as he glared over Renee’s head, pausing to crack his knuckles loudly as he took a step back to keep from pushing against the vixen.

The fox’s paw slowly went to the pocket he had his wallet in and pulled it out. “You could say that my curiosity’s a lot more than just being purely professional if it’ll make you feel better,” Nick said as he flipped it open to reveal his badge. “And I really do have a friend that still might die from trying to figure out what’s been going on, plus my wife is making herself a target for these mammals. I just want to find out as much as I can.”

Erebus looked at the fox, trying to figure out if he was telling the truth before glancing at Renee, the vixen nodding emphatically. “He really does want to find out why all those girls are missing,” she said.

The hyena seemed to deflate, Nick watching as Renee got him to listen before he remembered that the canids tended to have very matriarchal pecking orders. 

“Why are you helping?” Erebus asked the faded orange furred vixen. “What’d he do for you?”

Renee glanced at Nick and smiled. “He kept me from getting the fur beat off me. My neighborhood’s kind of bad.” She shook her head and amended, “Actually it’s worse than kind of. Lots of herds and gangs fighting each other for turf. Nick saved me when I got jumped trying to go home.”

The hyena blinked, his head lowering. “Oh.” With a deep breath that swelled out his already muscular torso, Erebus nodded. “Okay. Uh…I really don’t know much more than what I said already. That rabbit shows up in her car from time to time, talks up one of the girls at the hostel, then a couple of days later that girl gets in a car and never comes back.” He shrugged. “I don’t know a lot more’n that.”

“It helps,” Nick told him with a nod. “It really does.”

“M’kay…” the hyena grunted before chucking the next garbage bag like a large basketball and making the dumpster. “I guess you know that she showed up again today. There’s a young bunny…yellow fur that she’s interested in. Guess she’ll be the next one to disappear.”

The sound of the back door to the bistro opening caused all three to turn around as a grey wolf in a white and black chef’s jacket stepped out. “So this is where you are,” he said, looking with a suspicious expression at Erebus and the two foxes. “Something going on?”

“They’re asking about the girls that gone missing from across the street,” the hyena said as he pointed at Nick and Renee. “They say it’s all tied in to something serious.”

“Who are you?” the wolf inquired, his eyes narrowing in further suspicion as his paw gripped the door tightly, the other behind his back. “What are a couple of foxes so interested in this for?”

Nick opened the wallet still in his paw. “Officer Wilde, ZPD,” he said. “We believe that whatever’s happening here is tied in to an attack on a mammal from Child Services. Do you think you could answer a few questions?”

The grey wolf’s ears perked up and he flinched as his eyes widened. “Wow. So someone’s actually looking into that? It’s about time!” He was about to step out before pausing. “Uh…hold on a sec…” the wolf mumbled before slipping back behind the door. When he opened it again he was tugging the bottom of his jacket down. “Um, so, yeah. A lot of the girls over there would come and eat here until that bunny that runs Home International Exchange started showing up. She’d talk to some of the young mammals and anyone she talked to hasn’t been seen again.”

“Did you let ZPD know?” Nick asked with a frown.

“About what? As far as anyone can tell she got those girls jobs with different families or whatever. It wasn’t until Mrs. Fergus, one of the mammals that runs the hostel, said that they had a lot of stuff from those girls in the basement storage room. I just thought that maybe they got really good jobs...”

Nick shook his head. “Most mammals don’t just leave their belongings.” He looked thoughtful. “The ladies that run the hostel, do they come in here regularly?”

The wolf nodded. “Almost every day for lunch. Why?”

“I’d like you to pass on a message. Would you do that for me, Mr., um…?”

“Helmeczi,” the wolf said as he held out a paw. “Adam Helmeczi. And, yeah. I’ll pass on a message.”

“Tell them not to get rid of that stuff in storage anytime soon. I have a feeling some of the owners will be coming back to claim it,” Nick said with a determined look. Before he and Renee turned to go, the vixen exchanging a few last minute quiet words with Erebus, Nick stepped closer to the wolf. “You have a permit for that gun, right?” he asked quietly with a knowing look.

“Huh? Uh, yes. I do. Need to see it?” Adam inquired with a surprised expression as he pulled his own billfold out and removed the permit necessary to own actual firearms with the city and ZPD stamps on it. “How did you know?”

Nick glanced at the card and nodded. “I’d be a poor excuse for a cop if I couldn’t tell.” He turned to leave casting a glance at where the vixen and hyena were still chatting, furtive smiles on both their muzzles and occasional tail wags accompanying the whispered conversation. “Let’s go, Renee. You can see your boyfriend tomorrow.”

As they got into the car the vixen turned her hard, amber colored eyes on the other fox. “Really? You had to embarrass me in front of ‘Bus like that?”

Nick looked thoughtful as he slipped the key into the ignition. “Did I have to embarrass you? Why, yes. Yes I did. You like him, he likes you. Is there a problem with that?” he inquired before slipping the car into drive.

“Yeah!” Renee answered in a voice full of sarcasm. “It…we…”

“And I’m married to a bunny, dumb vixen,” Nick chortled. “Do you think I care if you’re attracted to someone that isn’t a fox?” He smiled as he guided the car out of the university district and towards his and Judy’s apartment. If he was lucky he could get a solid four hours of sleep before having to get up to return to his stakeout position. “The heart wants who the heart wants, Renee.”

They drove in silence for a while before the vixen spoke up. “So, is it worth it? The whole mixed couple thing? The way mammals look at you…the things they say? Is it really worth it?”

Nick nodded slowly. “It is. It’s not easy, but let me tell you that when you find the one that matches you, not just physically, but inside, where it really counts, it’s worth everything.”

“And Judy?” the vixen asked, a curious gleam to her eyes that seemed hopeful.

“She’s worth my life,” Nick answered softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little humor, a little tension, all simmered together for maximum flavor! :)
> 
> Some of you may recognize the wolf Helmeczi from 'Tails of the High Seas' and is the OC of PointeyHairedJedi.
> 
> Erebus is the OC of Erebus the Hyena.
> 
> Both are fellow writers and got their characters cameos because they answered a trivia question! I do that from time to time. Maybe it's time to start that up again! :D


	8. Chapter 8

Judy punched her pillow with a high pitched snarl of frustration before flopping back down for all of thirty seconds. With another grunt of irritation she rolled onto her side and closed her eyes, her mouth pulled into a frown of extreme displeasure. Sleep eluded her and the longer it stayed out of reach, the more irate the bunny became before she grit her teeth and pulled out the disposable phone that she’d gotten, her normal iCarrot sitting on her bed stand at home. At least this one had enough capabilities so that it wasn’t a complete waste of money. She slid the bottom half out to reveal an actual keyboard just big enough for her thumbs and typed in the ten digits for Nick. She hadn’t programmed anything more than the number for the fake employer that had been set up as part of her cover, keeping the rest of the memory clear.

It had taken her and Nick a week of living together to become completely comfortable sleeping together, but after those first few nights, Judy found that she couldn’t sleep peacefully if she wasn’t near her husband. She wondered if he was having the same problem as she kicked off a simple message.

*Are you up?*

The phone bleeped almost ten seconds later.

*Of course. Can’t sleep without you* her fox sent back.

The admission made Judy feel a little better about her own inability to fall asleep and she smiled as her thumb pads danced over the tiny illuminated buttons. 

*If this is what undercover work will be like I think I’ll stay in uniform. I miss you too much to get to sleep!*

Judy could almost feel the smile from her fox on the other side of the city, imagining his grin in vivid detail that she was unaware of remembering.

*Bed doesn’t feel right without my Carrots in it. No soft bunny fur to snuggle with…*

*I think I understand.* Judy sent back, almost feeling like a teenager as she sat up, her arms on her knees as she stared at the screen waiting for a response. Even though there was only a short pause between responses, she felt a twinge of anticipation until she got the little audible notification before the screen flashed to update the conversation.

*How are you holding up?*

*Apart from the not sleeping thing? OK I guess…*

*Then you’re doing better than me.*

*Why is that?* she sent in curiosity.

The next response took quite a bit longer this time and as the words appeared it was almost as if Judy could hear the preceding sigh from her mate and envision the melancholy expression on his vulpine face.

*Because I’m worried. Because I miss you. Because I want my wife and don’t want anything to happen to her… <3*

Judy sniffed and smiled. *Dumb fox. =:3*

*More like lonely fox…*

A mischievous twinkle danced in the bunny’s eyes. *If you ask nicely I’m sure a certain vixen would be more than happy to curl up with you! >:3*

*Oh Hell NO! It’s you or nothing, hunny-bunny!*

Judy smiled and batted at the errant drops that formed in her eyes as her heart beat a little faster. *I’ll have to make it up to you somehow…*

*>^O.O^<*

*What the heck is that?*

*Surprised fox face!*

*We either need to get you lessons on emoticons, or download better emoji’s for you…*

*That’s right. Bust my chops when I’m sitting here alone in the dark all broken hearted… :(*

*Don’t make me cry! I’m already feeling bad enough!* Judy sent as her eyes burned a little more intensely. She was able to blink them clear as she waited for the next response, her husband taking a little longer than last time.

The phone flashed as the message came up, the block of text a little longer than the other exchanges.

*Just promise me you’ll be careful. I’m hoping that the old Carrots who used to jump into the fire with both feet doesn’t make a reappearance during this mess. I don’t think I’d be too far behind you if something happens. I can’t see a life without you, Judy and I trust you, I depend on you, but most importantly, I love you. And those three little words don’t really do justice to the place that you have in my life or in my heart and soul. Just promise you’ll do everything you can to come home to me.”

Judy hiccupped as one paw went to her muzzle, the bunny pressing her knuckles hard against her teeth to stifle the sob the escaped, her breath catching in her throat. 

*Now you’ve done it…* she sent with one paw tapping out the letters.

*Sorry, love of mine. If it’s any consolation I’m right there with you.*

*Now I wish you weren’t on the other side of town…* she sent while trying to wick away the moisture that accumulated in the fur under her eyes.

*I’m not. Look out the window…*

Judy pushed the covers off and padded to the window, first looking down in front of the hostel, the streetlight illuminating the sidewalk with a splash of white. Then a spark of illumination from the parking garage caught her attention and she looked up to see a fox with a small LED flashlight shine it on himself before waving.

*Think you can sleep a little better now?*

Judy beamed and blew a kiss at the fox even though he wouldn’t be able to see it. She stepped back to the bed and got under the covers as her thumbs tapped out her reply.

*Oddly enough, I think I can. But what about you? You need rest as well, dumb fox!*

*I can sleep in the car. I’ve stayed in worse places. Pleasant dreams, bunny-love.*

*I love you, Nicholas Wilde! XOXOXOXO*

*Love you, Mrs. Hopps-Wilde*

As if just knowing her husband was near, Judy felt the day catching up to her and as she let her head sink into the pillow that wasn’t hers the bunny stifled a yawn as her eyes fluttered closed.

********************

Perhaps it was the routine over the past several months of waking as soon as the alarm went off so that he could spend that much more time with Judy, but the soft chirping from his phone brought Nick to instant waking, the fox sitting up in the car as his eyes took in the immediate area. Only when he was sure that there was nothing immediately wrong did he yawn, his tongue curling on itself. The thermos that held a little more than half a pot of coffee was still warm and he poured a generous amount into his travel mug before gulping it, the temperature just hot enough for him to power it down.

“Do all cops keep unholy early hours?” Renee asked as she sat up and rubbed at her eyes before fluffing the fur on her cheek where she’d been laying on her own arms. The blanket she’d covered with slid from her shoulders as she blinked sleep reddened eyes and looked in the rearview mirror at the other fox.

“Only the ones on morning shifts,” Nick answered with a tired grin. “I’d work nights if I could, but Carrots is more of a day-mammal.”

The vixen leaned over the seat and plucked the travel mug from his paws and upended the vessel, gulping down the brew in just a few swallows before giving it back. “You…you really do love her, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Nick replied softly as he looked down at the floorboard. “I really do.”

Renee smiled and playfully flicked at one of his ears until they both stood fully erect. “Don’t be sad,” the vixen told him. “When I learnt she was a bunny I thought you were some kinda freak…but after seeing the two of you together…” She shook her head. “You guys really do make a great pair-up. No wonder you weren’t interested in me.”

Nick tilted his head as he turned in the seat to regard the other fox. “Don’t sell yourself short,” he told her seriously. “If I wasn’t so completely lost to Carrots, you’d have gotten my attention.”

“No. I wouldn’t have,” Renee said before climbing between the seats to claim the passenger spot. “You two were made for each other. You act too rabbit, and she acts too fox. Neither one of you would be happy with anyone else.” The vixen sighed and shrugged down happily, her paws clasped between her knees as she grinned, her eyes closing. “It’s…it’s like a fairytale, you know? It kinda gives a girl like me hope that I might meet my own handsome prince someday!”

“That hyena seemed to like you,” Nick pointed out, wanting to steer the conversation away from his relationship.

“Maybe,” Renee said as she stretched languidly. “He’s a sweet guy, but I think I need to be with another fox. I feel like I’ll want kits someday…not right now or anything…but someday…” She smiled again at the thought of her own kits, a loving mate, a different life than the one she had. “So tell me something.”

“Something,” Nick snarked as he topped of his mug once more.

“Jerk,” Renee laughed before grabbing the cup that came with the thermos and held it out. “How hard was it to become a cop?”

Nick’s eyebrows shot up along with his ears. “It wasn’t easy. Three months worth of hard work. You need to get in physical shape and meet the minimum requirements for ZPD. You have to learn how to use the equipment, how to protect yourself. Then there’s studying pertinent laws. You get maybe seven hours during the day to eat, shower and sleep. The rest is taken up by learning everything you can in as short a time as possible.”

“Sounds rough,” the vixen observed.

The other fox nodded. “It is. I think the third week is the worse. That’s when most of the cadets at the Academy start to wonder why they’re doing it. Then you’ve got to learn how to work with others that might not think you’re able to do the job, ridicule, teasing. It’s all mental apart from the physical conditioning.” He took a long sip “Why do you want to know?”

Renee curled her legs under her, her long tail with vibrant white tip flipping over her thighs as she held her cup in both paws. “I just been thinking…”

Nick kept silent, letting the vixen speak her piece at her own pace.

“You, uh, used to be a…um…you know…bad guy, right?”

“I ran cons and hustles,” Nick said with a chuckle. “I convinced mammals with more money than sense to give me their cash. I don’t know if that made me bad guy.”

“But then you became a cop,” the vixen pointed out. “Why?”

Nick lowered the coffee cup. “Because I was shown that I could be more than what others saw me as. I mean, look at my wife. She’s one of the best cops this city has seen in a while. She has a big heart in that little body and she believes she can make a difference. And she’s right. She makes a difference every day.” The fox was staring out of the garage and across the street to the window that let into the room his Judy was in. “It’s amazing what you can do when someone as special as she is believes in you.”

They sat in silence for a bit, vehicular and pedestrian traffic picking up as the sun climbed into the sky. Nick sat up when the door to the hostel opened and Judy emerged in running gear, a fur tight halter and matching running shorts on that only accentuated all of her curves as she used the steps to stretch. Grabbing the binoculars, he watched as his wife went through her routine warm-up, knowing full well that she knew he was watching, once even catching a rather lurid glance tossed his way over her shoulder followed by a slow wink. 

“Sly tease…” he muttered with a grin.

“What?” Renee asked, the other fox’s comment pulling her out of her silent thoughts and contemplations.

“Judy’s being a flirt,” he said as he watched her put the small earbuds for her phone in. The binoculars tracked her as she finally finished warming up and began to take her normal morning run. It was one of the things that Nick enjoyed doing with her, having his wife next to him motivating the fox to continue a regimen of physical conditioning even as he motivated her in return. “Well, we’ve got about twenty minutes for her to finish her run. Why don’t you go get yourself some breakfast. It’s going to be a bit of a day and you should probably eat hearty.”

“What about you?” Renee asked as she patted herself down to make sure she had everything she’d need on her, the box of her jewelry on the back seat.

“I’ll be okay.”

“You sure?” the vixen asked, giving him a look that was straight Judy in its intensity. “I can hang around…”

“Go on,” Nick said with a smile. “I’ll be fine.”

She did as she was told, getting the small wooden crate with her things before heading to the ground level of the garage. It was strange. She’d known Nick and Judy for less than three days, but she already felt a sort of connection to them and was genuinely concerned for both. As she poked at the new, strange feelings, she wondered if this was what it meant to have actual friends…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this was a bit of a short chapter, but I think I'll be making up for it in just a couple of installments...


	9. Chapter 9

Delgato pulled up next to the Merlin 770 well before the appointed time to take over the stakeout Nick was running on his partner and shut the engine of his own car off. To his right Sherri Clawhauser unfastened her seatbelt before crossing her arms over her chest, her muzzle clamped tightly closed as she stared straight ahead, her contempt for the fox in the car next to her expressed in a snort of derision. The tiger shook his head as he got out and walked around to lean on the roof of the car that Nick sat in.

“Anything yet?” Delgato asked.

Nick shook his head. “I just got off the phone with Carrots about twenty minutes ago. She’s getting ready for the car to pick her up.”

The tiger nodded before taking a long look at the fox. “Are you all right? You look like the heat’s getting to you,” Delgato observed, a slight frown creasing his brows.

“It’s not the heat,” Nick admitted with a sigh.

Giving a knowing look Delgato put a paw on the fox’s shoulder, almost half of Nick vanishing under the large palm and fingers. “It’s Judy,” he said reassuringly. “If anyone in the department can take care of themselves it’s your wife. I didn’t think she could take me in the ring, but somewhere on my back I think I’ve got the permanent impression of her feet.”

Nick smiled wanly, knowing that the tiger was right, but there would always be a part of him that worried. Yes, it had been easier before he’d gone legit when all he worried about was himself, but it had been a lonely way of life. Things were so much better…brighter with Judy, but it came with the cost of fretting over her safety.

“Hey? I think that’s the car,” Renee said as she sat up and pointed to the front of the hostel.

“Yeah,” Nick said also sitting up straighter. “That’s it. Looks like it’s game time.”

Delgato reached in through the passenger side of his unmarked car and tapped the display screen that was standard in almost all of the ZPD vehicles, ignoring the indignant sounds from Clawhauser version two. “Looks like the trackers are working,” the tiger informed the others. “Bogo said these were tied into the cell relays that phones use. Right?”

The fox nodded. “It’s like a continuously open line,” Nick said. “Whenever she moves it will show up on the screen that’s tied into the network giving us an idea of where she is. As long as there’s cell service wherever she goes, we’ll know her location.”

“You say so,” Delgato commented. “I’m a beat cop. I leave the techie stuff to the eggheads in the department’s technology office.”

Nick caught his wife’s glance up in his direction and wanted to let her know that they were ready to follow, but she’d cleared all of the history information from the inexpensive and disposable phone that the Criminal Investigations Division of the ZPD had given her, the regular iCarrot she normally carried sitting in the drawer of her dressing table back at the apartment she shared with her husband. Nick swallowed hard as she ducked into the rear passenger compartment before the lynx closed the door and moved briskly to the driver’s side. It only took a moment to get the large car in gear and the feline signaled before pulling out onto the street. As the limousine vanished the fox brought up the tablet he’d been furnished with, a map of the city coming up with a purple dot to show that the trackers were functioning and watched as the car with Judy continued down University Boulevard before turning onto the Savannah Central Expressway heading west.

“Hey, Nick?” the vixen in the passenger seat said softly, her paw reaching out to touch his arm before she stopped, her fingers shaking a little. “If you squeeze that thing any harder you’re gonna crack the screen.”

Realizing that Renee was right he took a deep breath and slipped the tablet onto the holder mounted to the dash. “Thanks,” he husked. Nick looked up at the tiger, his mouth set in a tight, unhappy line. “We’ll give them a few more minutes and follow. Sound good to you?”

Delgato nodded. “Works for me. You’re lead on this one according to the Chief, so if that’s what you want to do, that’s what we’ll do.” He gave the fox’s shoulder another squeeze before turning back to his own car. “Poor guy,” he muttered once he was behind the wheel and turned the key, the powerful engine purring once it turned over.

“He doesn’t look so good,” Sherri Clawhauser muttered.

“How is he supposed to look?” Delgato asked as he scowled at the cheetah. “His wife just got into a strange car going to who the hell knows where, and he’s not with her. How do you think he’s supposed to feel and look?”

Sherri frowned as she turned her head to look at the tiger. “Okay, so I’m not really with the whole pred-prey thing, but the bunny is a fellow cop. I get it, all right? I might not support her and fox boy’s lifestyle choices, but she wears the uniform, so that makes this important. I was just saying he doesn’t look so good.” She glanced out the window a moment before the Merlin began to backup under the Nick’s guidance. “He, um, really loves her that much?”

“He really does,” Delgato said as he waited for Nick to clear away before putting his own car in reverse. “And she loves him back just as much. If you really want to find out just what they mean to each other, get on the ZPD website and check out the videos for the wedding. Or ask your cousin, or any of the other cops that were there.”

“How do you feel about it?” Sherri pressed. “The whole pred-prey relationship thing I mean?”

“It’s not for everyone,” Delgato said with a smile, “but I have to agree with what Bogo and the Judge that handled the ceremony said; it gives me hope.”

********************

Judy tried to see her husband before she got into the car that had been sent to collect her and saw the vehicle he was in, but not Nick himself. Just knowing he was watching over her helped, but she would have felt eminently better if he’d been next to her. With a sigh, the bunny got into the back of the town car, her eyes widening in surprise to find Natasha Dyyvol waiting for her, a drink in her dainty paw and plastic smile on her short muzzle.

“I’m sorry, Mum!” Judy said as she climbed in, a look of genuine surprise still on her face. “I thought that only the driver would be arriving,” she explained as the bunny took the vacant position next to Natasha at the other’s invite. It made Judy’s skin crawl beneath her fur to sit next to the older rabbit and she had to swallow down the inherent caution that filled her as if Mrs. Dyyvol were a known danger.

“I thought that I’d accompany Mr. Sanders,” Natasha told the younger bunny. “You don’t mind, do you?” she inquired while looking the other up and down almost possessively.  
“Not at all, Mum,” Judy replied with a smile before turning away from the other to look at the other side of the compartment, not really having to feign a nervous demeanor as the other bunny put off a feeling of being dangerous.

“I think you’re going to find tonight to be unlike anything that you’ve ever experienced, Julie,” the rabbit said as she crossed her legs on the somewhat large seat then smoothed out the lay of her long, semi-professional skirt with one paw, the other bringing the crystal tumbler to her mouth for a sip. “Oh, how rude of me,” she commented with an amused chortle. “Would you like a drink?”

“I…I’m not old enough to drink,” Judy told her softly.

“Oh, come now!” Natasha laughed. “I’m certainly not going to tell anyone that you had one drink!” She reached for a bottle from the side rack of different liquors and colorful bottles and made a show of checking the labels. “I’m sure that there’s something here that you’d like…”

“Just a soda if you would,” Judy finally said, not sure she trusted any of the contents of the bottles.

Natasha plucked a tumbler like the one she held out of the lower rack. “Well, I think we can accommodate you on that.” The older bunny flipped open a small ice bucket and used a pair of tongs to drop a couple of cubes into the glass before opening a small bottle of club soda and poured it in. “Would you like something to flavor it with? There are lemon and lime slices…let’s see,” she pondered other things in the compact bar. “Or I think…ah, yes. Fruit juice perhaps?”

“The club soda is quite fine, Mum,” the bunny said as she took the glass, sipping at it while looking at nothing in particular. 

She noted that the scenery changed as the car slipped onto the expressway, the angle of the sun telling her they were headed west. Natasha was going on about how the gathering that she was taking her to was something of a party for friends and clients and that Natasha was sure that a place could be found for such a sweet young bunny, Judy almost dropping her glass when the other’s paw came to rest on her knee and began petting the fur there. When she looked at the rabbit she found Natasha a little too close for comfort, an almost hungry look in the other rabbit’s eyes. When her face became hard to focus on, Judy looked at the glass in her paw, then Natasha’s. 

There wasn’t any ice in the other bunny’s drink.

The tumbler fell out of Judy’s suddenly numb fingers and she tried to focus, losing the battle to remain upright as she felt the drugs in her system shut her down steadily. As she slid to her side, unfortunately her head coming to rest on the other rabbit’s lap, she felt Natasha begin to stroke the fur of her cheek as she looked down with that chilling smile.

“Normally it’s so much easier with girls your age,” Natasha told her. “Offer them a drink, it’s gone before they know it and are already asking for a second. I wouldn’t ruin good drink by drugging that, sweet little bunny,” the rabbit said as she continued to touch and pet Judy, her explorations becoming more risqué. “But I never take my drinks with ice. That’s where it was, just so you know. This way even the most reluctant little girls soon fall asleep before I help them into their new lives. Now you just close your eyes…” Natasha cooed as she touched the yellow furred bunny’s ears soothingly before laughing softly. “Oh, you’re going to fetch so much, though I am tempted to keep you for my very own…”

It sounded as if the words reaching her ears came from a recording that had been slowed and distorted as Judy fought the effects of the drugs that she’d been given. It wasn’t just a simple roofie, either. She knew that a strong enough dose of rohypnol would make her pliant, or even forgetful with a sort of induced amnesia if the amount given was even greater. She knew the effects from her Academy training, but she shouldn’t have been experiencing the warping of her senses.

“Yes, my sweet little bunny,” Natasha crooned as she leaned over and lipped Judy’s ear. “There was just a little more in the ice cube than a roofie. It’ll help make everything that you’ll be going through so much better, honey. You’ll become so addicted to the pleasures that I’m going to show you that you’d sell your soul for me to touch you…”

As she felt the other bunny’s muzzle pressed to hers Judy was even incapable of screaming in the terror that she felt.

*******************

Nick swore furiously as he watched the car ferry vanish into the descending gloom as the flat boat slipped between two of the canal islands that lay along the southwestern portion of the city, his heart in his throat. When the tiger came up and put his paw on the fox’s shoulder, Nick jerked away, his paws clenching into fists that were so tight that his claws dug into the semi rough pads of his palms.

“We still have a good signal, Nick!” Delgato told him. “Look! We can still track her!” he held up the tablet that displayed a rudimentary map of the islands. The purple icon that was Judy showing up as the ferry meandered through the maze of waterways.

Nick glanced at the tablet as he pulled his phone out, his thumb automatically running over the slide code to unlock it before glancing at the screen. He brought up his contacts list before tapping on the name of the individual he wanted to contact then put the iCarrot up to his ear. “We’ve got a problem…” he began.

Fifteen minutes after placing his call a boat appeared at the dock that Nick, Delgato, Sherri Clawhauser and Renee stood on, the lioness at the wheel of the ZPD RHIB. As the marine officer pulled in, Delgato catching the line to help her dock, Nick turned to the vixen.

“Okay, Renee. This is where we part ways,” he told the other fox tersely. “Here,” he added an pulled out a thin stack of one hundred dollar notes and counted out eight of them and put them in her paw. “Go see Chief Bogo at the ZPD Precinct One building if you need more.”

“More?” Renee asked with a confused expression. “This is already more than you said, and we ain’t done yet.”

Nick blinked, not really up to playing games with the sour mood he was in. “What do you mean we aren’t done?”

“Is your wife back yet? Do you even know where she is?” the vixen asked as she assumed a petulant stance that could have been pure Judy complete with paw on hip. “Until that happens the job ain’t done…I’m not done!”

“Renee, you need to leave this to the police, now,” Nick began before Renee cut him off.

“Is that how it was when you and Judy busted Bellwether? If I remember right you weren’t a cop yet, and she’d turned in her badge!” The vixen dropped her voice when she saw the others looking at her. “I never had friends like you and Judy before this!” she hissed, the hint of a snarl coloring her words. “I…I kinda like it, so I ain’t gonna let one of ‘em go…” she waved her paw in a vague manner, “wherever the hell they’re takin’ your bunny, and I’m sure as shit not gonna be left behind! So you…you deputize me or whatever you need to do and let’s go!”

Nick was about to return a scathing reply when he saw the look in her amber eyes and paused. He recognized the look the vixen glared at him with. It was the same way he’d looked at his Judy when they’d been trapped in the Zootopia Natural History Museum when the bunny had tried to force the box containing the Night Howler serum on him and told him to run. He hadn’t, somehow knowing, even then, that Judy was a very crucial part of his life, not really aware of just how important she’d become in the following months.

And Renee had been right. He hadn’t been a cop, and technically neither had Judy Hopps been. But they’d seen it through, both determined to do what was right instead of what was easy.

With his mouth forming a hard line he pulled out of the grasp of the vixen’s paws and stepped back to the car, popping the trunk with the key as Renee followed, more than willing to continue the argument until Nick threw a set of Kevlar body armor at her. As she slipped it on, getting the Velcro tabs closed with a sort of satisfied expression, the fox held up the next item for her. “Using one of these is about as simple as can be,” he began as Nick held up the shotgun loaded with shells that contained a dozen small tranq darts. “This is what you do…”

As the others suited up with protective vests and different non-lethal weapons, Delgato regarded the fox that was also his friend and tilted his head. “Are you sure about this?” he asked with a jerk of his chin towards the vixen. “I’m not sure that this is the time to be bringing a civilian along.”

“She can stay in the boat,” Nick said as he checked his pistol before slipping it into the hip holster. Dressed in grey T-shirt and black jeans the fox already looked like he was ready for work, and pulled a stun gun out and verified the battery was charged. “If we tried to leave her she’d just steal a boat or something and follow us anyway. At least this way we’ll know where she’s at and can keep her out of trouble.”

Both males turned when Sherri Clawhauser approached, the cheetah looking a little nervous. “Um, I was wondering if we might want to wait for SWAT?” she asked. “This seems like some pretty heavy stuff going down…”

“I’m not waiting,” Nick told her in a clipped tone. “Right now I’m listening to my gut and my heart. Besides,” he added with a glance at where Renee waited, “we have a replacement if you want to hang back.”

The cheetah bristled before a grin split her muzzle and her eyes narrowed at the baiting. “Not bad, Wilde. Now I see what Benji was talking about. You are about a shrewd fox, aren’t you?” She tightened the straps to her own vest. “Well, can’t let you boys have all the fun.”

The four piled on the boat, the lioness nodding to the others to cast the lines off before pushing the throttle forward as she spun the wheel, the RHIB listing sharply as the twin outboards snarled deeply and threw a tail up behind the small craft while churning the water white. The boat leapt out of the water as the bow met a small ripple on the surface before coming down with a muffled crash.

Delgato’s face was almost stoic, the tiger having served on the police force for long enough to hide whatever he was feeling. Sherri swallowed hard and closed her eyes whenever the boat bounced a little or the lioness made a sharp turn. Renee was grinning, her nose turned into the wind rushing at them. Nick was fairly sure if it hadn’t been pinned down by the blast of air as the boat tore through the water that the vixen’s tail would have been wagging furiously. And as far as the fox was concerned, the only thing that mattered was finding out where his wife was being taken to.

As he watched the others, it was Renee that caused the most concern. To bring a civilian with them, even though she’d already functioned as a confidential informant, it was an offense that Bogo might well fire him for. That, however, was the last thing that Nick was worried about. The vixen was too excited by all of this and she wasn’t showing the right amount of caution or forethought to satisfy Nick.

Then again, it wasn’t too unlike watching himself when he and Judy had leapt from one scrape to another during the Night Howler crisis.

The tiger motioned for the lioness to slow down and got out the tablet that was still linked to the cell phone network and brought up the map. With a frown he moved to the marine officer and called the fox over. “Looks like they’re going to this island here,” the tiger pointed to one of the furthest little blobs of land in the canal area. Then the purple icon that represented Judy faded and vanished. “Damn it! She just slipped out of cell range!”

“Do you know of anything out there?” Nick asked the lioness, one Officer Sabine Softpaw according to her name tag. “Any buildings or houses?”

“There are a few estates,” Sabine said with a frown. “And there are a lot of old warehouses, mostly abandoned since the city port was expanded several years back. We run patrols out there, but it’s not really an area that’s well patrolled.”

“Then we’ll head here,” Delgato said as he pointed to the area that Judy’s tracker last showed at. “If we can find that ferry that’ll give us a fairly good idea where they might have gone.”

“It might be a little more difficult than that,” the lioness told them. “Sun’s going down and there are a lot of little nooks and crannies a boat that size can anchor at.”

Nick frowned. “Then we better get moving. I’ll be up on the bow. My eyes function pretty well in the dark.”

“So do ours,” Delgato said with a grin, though there wasn’t much humor in the expression. “What more could you ask for than a boat full of preds built for night work?”

The fox nodded quickly in agreement.

‘Hold on, Judy-love,’ he thought to himself. ‘We’re coming as quick as we can.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was asked by someone what I based Nick and Delgato's cars on. For Nick the choice was simple and that was an Equus 770. Oh, what a car! I needed something different from his little convertible. Delgato is driving something that was inspired by the 1968 Mercury Cougar. Both are phenomenal example of American iron mongery!!!


	10. Chapter 10

Murmured voices helped bring Judy out of the drug induced stupor she was in, her waking followed shortly by pain and she gasped as she tried to move and lift her face from the hard surface it was laying on. Sitting up proved to be even more difficult when she went too far in one direction as sudden pressure on her throat cut off her air and caused her to cough violently with as dry as her mouth was.

“Easy there, love,” a high feminine voice from somewhere nearby instructed. “You got a collar on like the rest of us.”

Returning to laying on the hard surface, the bunny felt around her neck at the collar, then her questing fingers felt for the direction the lead attached to it went. The band around her neck was a strip of padded metal secured more than adequately by a small padlock. The lead turned out to be a thin chain, though it was more than sturdy enough to prevent breakage. Getting to her paws and knees, Judy took a moment to catch her breath, keeping her eyes closed against the light that surrounded her, the moderate glare seeming to stab directly into her brain. A sudden surge from her stomach caused her to clear its contents in a single, powerful belch, bile, befouled club soda and bits from her lunch earlier which caused another fit of coughing. If she could have, Judy would have purged her system, but rabbits were incapable of that act. She did loose control of her bladder for a moment, adding insult to injury/

“That’s the drugs,” a different voice than the first said. “Knocks you out and then makes you hurl or...that.”

“Another fluffy bit to being sold, yes?” a third voice with moderately thick accent that made her sound Eastern European asked. 

Judy shook her head. “What is this place?” she asked the disembodied voices between gulps of air.

“This here’s a meat market, love,” the first one that had spoken said. “Dyyvol lured all of us here, and now she plans to sell us to the highest bidder.”

The bunny got enough strength back to open her eyes and look around. Including Judy herself there were eighteen mammals, all female, most ranging between nineteen years for the oldest, a golden jackal that looked lean and athletic, perhaps twelve for the youngest, a civet in a dirty pair of second hand jeans and cotton button down shirt that was too big for her. “Sell? What do you mean, sell?”

“Sex trade’s most likely,” a European rabbit with mostly black fur save for a spot of white at her throat and at the ends of her paws and feet said. She had an English accent much one of Judy’s favorite actresses from across the Atlantic, Naomi Hooflan, an elegant deer that could pull off sexy, soft or tough characters extremely well. “Don’t matter what it is, we’re slaves, or soon will be.”

Judy shook her head. “Not if my friends and I have anything to say about it,” she husked. It was a testament to the strength of the drugs that she’d been given that her mind wasn’t functioning quite as it should be and she almost said things that would have been unwise to speak of until she determined if they were being listened to. 

It took an effort to get mostly upright, Judy’s arms and legs trembling, but she finally succeeded and was able to move away from the puddle of foulness that she’d created and scuttled to the concrete wall that the ring that was attached to her lead was anchored to. As she pressed her back against the cooler masonry work, Judy felt some of the weakness leave her as her head cleared. Squinting at first, Judy forced her eyes open and looked at the room. If she and the other bunny moved closer they could actually touch, but that was all. There was only a couple of feet of chain attached to each wall mount and collar, enough for each of the girls to sit up, lay down and take care of personal needs with plastic buckets, one for each.

She didn’t see any obvious listening devices and the one camera was an older unit without an audio pick-up. It was angled so it could take in the entire room and its occupants without having to pan left or right. They were all in a back corner of whatever the building was with walls of concrete paneling making up the other two sides and a metal door with no knob or handle. As she took in the enclosure, Judy looked at the other mammals. Apart from the jackal and other bunny there was the lynx from Germany that Finnick had had on his computer that she and Nick had found. As was the petite Russian brown bear, Irinia that was one of the older cases on the fennec fox’s drive. The younger girls were the civet she’d already noted, two young antelope fawns, twins from their appearance, that couldn’t be more the thirteen or fourteen years old. The largest was a zebra mare of about fifteen who stared at absolutely nothing, rocking slowly as she mumbled to herself.

“Are all of you from the hostel?” Judy asked the black furred bunny next to her.

“Most of us,” she said in her lilting soprano. “The ‘lopes, Holly and Ivy, and civet, Piper-Bren, are street kids according to them. Yfala, she’s from Africa, Irinia’s from Russia, Marta’s from Germany, Rebecca’s from somewhere in the Middle East,” the bunny said with a jerk of her chin to the golden jackal. “Me? I’m Harriet, from London if you couldn’t tell. Hired as a nanny, got let go because I couldn’t handle a very rambunctious pair of wolf cubs, put my resume in with Dyyvol and wound up here.”

“How long have all of you been here?” Judy asked as her paw again went to the collar, needing to do something that would keep her occupied as her head continued to grow more clear from the drugs.

“The longest? That’d be Irinia and Rebecca. Almost two weeks,” the English bunny said. She thumped her head on the concrete wall. “Goddess of rabbits, what I’d give for a fag right now.”

“Excuse me?!?” Judy asked in a shocked tone.

The black furred doe turned dark brown eyes on the other and smiled. “A smoke. A cigarette. Looks like that old saying is right and we’re separated by a common language.” She snorted in a moment o dark humor. “I guess I don’t have to worry about cigarettes killing me, huh?”

Judy shook her head. “I don’t plan on anyone dying tonight or going to…wherever that bitch plans. I owe her a foot up her ass anyway.”

Harriet smiled mirthlessly. “Gave you a bit of a feel up, huh? She did worse to Piper. Seems Mrs. Dyyvol has a bit of a kink when it comes to youngsters. Wouldn’t mind joining you on that tail kicking. Takes a pretty sick bitch to molest kids.” She went back to looking at the door before once more turning to Judy. “So how is it you plan on not letting anything happen?” she asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Before Judy could reply the sound of a lock being disengaged sounded from the door and Natasha Dyyvol entered, her expression smug as she looked at the different mammals chained to the walls. Following behind was her driver, the lynx only known as Mr. Sanders and a white Bengal tiger in a tailored suit of black and charcoal grey. “Get them ready for tonight’s event. Oh, except her,” the doe said as she gestured to Judy. “I want her with me, so see to it that she’s cleaned up a little better than the others and take the necessary precautions. I think she’s going to be my new favorite.”

The two cats nodded and stepped further into the room while the rabbit left, all of the girls, Judy included, flinching back as they drew closer.

*****************

The twin outboards of the ZPD RHIB growled as the boat came around a bend in the last of the canals, the rigid hulled inflatable boat cutting through the water effortlessly. All four mammals onboard scanned the edges of the banks intently though it was Sherri Clawhauser that saw the ferry they’d been pursuing first. “Got ‘em,” she told the others, keeping her voice down enough so that she could be heard without the sound carrying across the water. “That warehouse complex up ahead and over to the right.”

Nick snagged the binoculars the lioness had hanging from the wheel and throttle console. “That’s it all right,” he muttered, his paws clenching around the grips so tightly his knuckles popped. “Back us up,” he told the marine officer. “We’ll get off down the shore and make our way in from there,” the fox said before lowering the glasses and looked to Delgato. “Call the Chief. Tell him to send the Razorbacks.”

As the tiger nodded and lifted the radio mike to his muzzle, Renee moved closer to the other fox. “What do you want me to do?” she asked, her voice a little tense and brittle sounding with the rush of adrenaline.

“I want you to stay here with the boat,” Nick told her as he continued to scan the area around the warehouses noting several limousines and the rather opulent cabin cruisers that sat moored to the old dock attached to a weathered concrete jetty.

“Stay with the boat? But I wanna come with you!” the vixen complained. “Judy’s my friend, too, you know!”

Nick shot the other fox a hard glare. “Keep your voice down!” he snarled. “And I want you to stay with the boat because if things go sideways and we have to run for it, this is our only escape! And you’ll damn well do what you’re told or I’ll cuff you to the damn boat!”

It wasn’t until Delgato put his paw on Nick’s shoulder that the fox realized just how scathing his reply was and he slumped a little, trying to ignore the somewhat hurt look in the vixen’s eyes. 

“Look…Renee…I…I’m sorry. I’m worried and I’m scared. I have no right to take it out on you,” the fox said softly. “I know you want to help, but my plate’s full. I can’t worry about you too. I’ll already be spread a little thin as it is.”

The vixen nodded and gave a fitful smile even though the rebuke still stung a little. “Y-you’re right. I don’t know what to do,” she told him softly, unable to look up into his eyes. “I’ll…I’ll stay here. Just, um, make sure you come back, okay?” Renee glanced up before dropping her gaze again. “All of you…”

Before Nick could respond the bow of the RHIB ground gently against the shoreline, Officer Softpaw giving a little power to only one of the motors to keep them temporarily grounded. “We’ll wait for you unless we see someone taking off, then you’ll be on your own.”

“Not for long,” Delgato said. “Bogo’s getting the Razorbacks going. As soon as they’re airborne he and the others will be on the way.”

Nick nodded, his mouth tight while his eyes flashed. “Let’s go be good guys.”

The tiger was the first off the boat, the lioness having to compensate with a little more throttle to keep the boat on station with the sudden decrease in weight that changed the buoyancy. Nick followed with Sherri Clawhauser bringing up the rear. As they made their way through the undergrowth the sound of the RHIB backing off a little and taking a covering position faded as they pushed inland. All around the three officers crickets and frogs fell silent until they passed before starting up their evening chorus once more. It took several minutes of careful maneuvering to make it to the edge of the warehouses, the paving in disrepair from years of neglect with long cracks that had tufts of hardy grass growing out of them along with weeds as the land tried to reclaim the former industrial area. An abandoned forklift that might have been yellow at some point in its history, but was now a uniform shade of rust red provided cover for the three cops. 

“Five heavies,” Nick muttered.

“Six,” Delgato said as he lowered the binoculars he’d liberated from the patrol launch. “One’s crouched down by the corner of that warehouse.” The tiger sniffed the air and snarled silently. “He’s nipping up.”

“I’ll drop him last,” Sherri told the other two as she hefted the light tranq rifle to her shoulder. 

For nick it would have been a full sized rifle, but in the paws of the cheetah it was more of a small carbine. She flipped the hinged covers off the small scope. It was standard issue for most patrols cruisers, Nick and Judy even having a pair in their car. It fired similar rounds that the standard tranquilizer pistol did, though the cartridges were designed to provide greater distance and accuracy.

They held their breath as the cheetah fired round after round, almost one a second, unsure if any of the mammals ranging from a wolf to a hippo had any sort of armor on and tagged them in the legs with the exception of the figure that was toking on a nip-cig, the dart for that particular mammal striking him in the neck. Before the fourth round found itself lodged in a grizzly’s thigh the first target, a jaguar, was already staggering prior to slumping bonelessly to the broken concrete tarmac.

“Not bad, Clawhauser,” Nick said with actual appreciation.

The cheetah lifted the muzzle of the rifle into the air with a satisfied smirk. “Yeah. Heard about this uppity fox that was one of the top scores at the range in the Academy and figured getting some more trigger time would be a good idea. Didn’t want a tail-sniffer to show me up,” she whispered in what was her first friendly tone towards Nick.

“Better than licking myself all the time,” the fox tossed back with a grin that was returned once Clawhauser got over her initial shock at the comment. The looks they exchanged for a couple of moments seemed to clear the earlier animosity and they both nodded, accepting each other as fellow police officers.

“What about those?” Delgato asked indicating the pleasure boats that bobbed serenely in the canal.

“Leave those to me,” Sherri said. “I can keep anyone on them pinned down while you two take care of in there,” she commented with a jerk of her head towards the warehouse.

Fox and tiger glanced at each other before trading paw bumps, Delgato making a soft exploding sound as he pulled his paw back, Nick waggling his fingers. “Bada-lada-lada.”

“Did you really just ‘Pig Hero Six’ me?”

“What? It was a cute movie and Carrots liked it a lot,” Nick told him with a smarmy grin.

“You are so lucky I like you,” Delgato told him before stepping around the forklift in a crouch, Nick following as they padded quickly to door to the building. “I got left,” the tiger said as he reached for the handle, catching Nick’s nod before pulling it open and ducking inside.

Instead of an open area the two officers found themselves in a hallway that ran parallel left and right with the outside wall. “Great,” the fox grunted, his eyes darting to and fro as he held his weapon at the ready. 

“Stay together or split up?”

Nick shook his head slightly. “That’s the twenty thousand dollar question now, isn’t it? We cover more ground, but it would leave us a might vulnerable from behind.”

Both mammals’ ears perked at the sound of laughter and merriment coming from further into the building. “Stay together then,” Delgato muttered. “So left or right?”

Nick was about to answer, one direction as good as the other before he caught the scent of something, his nose working furiously. “It might be her, or it might not, but I’m catching bunny from the right.”

The tiger raised an eyebrow. “Well, your nose is better than mine. You lead. I can shoot over you if I have to.”

Nick nodded and slowly made his way down the paneled hallway, pausing at doors that led into small cubicles, though they weren’t set up for office work. Each one had a chair, small table and mattress, the fox’s frown returning for a moment before his expression turned into smoldering anger. “You know what these are, don’t you?” he asked the other officer.

Delgato peeked inside one of the rooms, his whiskers lowering as his ears flattened against his skull. “Yeah,” he croaked in a throat that suddenly went dry as his stomach churned slightly. “I know exactly what these rooms are for. Test the goods out.”

“I don’t think that they’ve been used, though. I’m not getting…that kind of smell,” Nick whispered.

“Let’s keep it that way, then,” the tiger commented as they continued on.

Almost to the juncture where the hallway branched left, a figure stepped around the corner. Without even thinking Nick sunk two darts into a well dressed bear, though the ursine was a bit smaller than most of the ones that the fox knew personally, a third dart from Delgato also striking true. His eyes immediately rolled up and closed as he sagged against the wall and sunk to the floor. As the fox checked the next hallway Delgato grabbed a leg and hauled the unconscious mammal back to one of the empty rooms and shut the door.

“Clear,” Nick hissed as the tiger came back, his fiery eyes looking back the way they’d come before following the smaller fox around the corner. Just as they got to the end of the hall, Nick’s nose began twitching again, almost as bad as his wife’s would at times. “Judy!” he whispered, a flood of emotions causing his heart to speed up drastically. “She’s nearby!”

“What do you think about that door?” Delgato inquired as he motioned to an open room just around the next bend, the heavy metal panel equipped with a simple but sturdy locking bar. 

“Her smell’s stronger towards it,” Nick informed the other as he drank in his wife’s scent along with several other mammals, all female from what he could tell. He padded to the door, the barrier slightly open and listened as a scratchy tenor voice came from inside. Moving a little closer to the heavy metal frame, the fox listened, adding what he heard to what he could smell and held up a paw with two fingers. He then pointed at himself after the tiger nodded and put his back to the wall to cover the hallway.

“You’ll put that on,” the strange voice ordered angrily, “or you’ll get this again!” The directions were punctuated by the sound of an electric discharge followed by several whimpering voices that sounded much younger and female.

Risking a look, Nick peeked through the small gap between door and frame. Most of the room was blocked by a tiger that looked even larger than Delgato while moving about the room and waving a shock prod around was a lynx, the same one that had driven the car that Judy had gotten into. Pointing his pistol at the tiger Nick touched the edge of the door with his other paw, ready to throw it open. His finger took the slack out of the trigger, the integral suppressor muffling the sound of the discharge, but like all such items, didn’t completely silence the weapon. Even if the fox had used a blowgun it would have made enough noise to get the lynx’s attention.

The Bengal tiger was already slumping when the lynx turned, his head spun around first with luminous light green eyes fixing on Nick like a pair of baleful lasers. In an instant he was leaping towards the door, the prod outstretched while an arc of blisteringly blue light crackled between the electrodes. It was all the fox could do to catch the attack, forcing the prod away with his left paw while the cat’s grabbed the wrist of the one that held the tranq gun and rode Nick hard to the floor with his momentum. As he struggled to keep the prod from touching him, not sure if it would simply hurt or incapacitate him, Nick watched in horror as the lynx hissed hatefully, his maw wide open with disturbingly large, pointed teeth. Then he felt it as the feline raked his left thigh with sharp toe claws, fiery pain running up his leg, the shredding of his pants acting as a sort of accompaniment to the unnatural sound that came from the lynx’s throat.

The next thing Nick was aware of was the triangular head darting forward and the only thing he could do was shove his left shoulder into the lynx’s mouth, feeling the fangs penetrate deep enough to scrape bone as the fox growled in pain. Then the struggle ceased as quickly as it had begun, the cat going limp, the weight of the feline vanishing as Delgato physically hauled the cat off and tossed the unconscious form back down the hallway.

“Sonuvabitch!” the tiger hissed as he bent down to assess his brother cop. “Well, that wasn’t normal behavior!” He looked at the shoulder before glancing at the long furrows in the fox’s thigh. “You’re going to need stitches, dude,” Delgato said as the gouges welled with bright red blood. 

“Figures,” Nick grunted as he got up, trying to fill his lungs as the enraged lynx had knocked the wind out of him. “Crap on a cracker…” he gasped. “Think he was nipped out just a bit?”

Delgato snorted. “Yeah. Just a little. Can you walk?”

“I’ll damn well walk out of here once we find Judy,” Nick grunted as he was helped to his feet. “First things first.” Limping slightly, Nick went into the room and looked around quickly. There were only four mammals apart from the slumbering tiger. Huddled together and trying to hold one another were a pair of very young antelopes, a golden jackal and young bear sow. “Del, see if there’s keys on the lynx,” he called softly while bending to search the tiger.

“Got ‘em,” the tiger said as he came in and saw the girls for the first time, his nose wrinkling at the smell of unwashed fur and waste buckets. “Oh, hell no…” he husked and passed the keys off before turning to keep an eye on the door.

Nick only paused long enough to grab a pawful of clothing before ripping it and tying a strip of bright red fabric above the claw marks on his thigh. “How many others were in here? Was there a rabbit? Yellow fur?”

The jackal nodded and spoke as the fox went to the antelopes first and began to rummage through the keys for one that would fit the padlocks on the collars. “They took the others,” the jackal said in a slightly accented voice. “I don’t know where, but I heard that they would get a good price.”

“You’re Rebecca, right?” Nick asked, smiling when the canine’s eyes widened slightly. “Erebus told us about you.”

“Erebus? Really?” the jackal asked with interest. “He…he remembered me?”

The fox chuckled as he got the collars of the antelope girls and moved to the civet. “Oh, he remembers you, all right. I’m Nick, by the way. Zootopia Police Department. That’s Officer Delgato. He’s going to get all of you to a safe place.”

“What?” the tiger said as he heard what Nick said. “You’re injured.”

“It’s not bad, but I’m not leaving Judy,” the fox said as he went to work on the next girl. The civet rubbed her neck furiously as soon as the collar came free before throwing her arms around Nick and sobbing softly. “Hey, now. It’s okay. It’s almost over. Calm down, kitten,” Nick said softly as he rubbed the traumatized cat’s back. “Just gotta be strong for a bit longer then we can all have a little breakdown, okay?” he asked as he put a little distance between them and lifted her chin so she had to look the fox in the eyes. She nodded and smiled weakly while droplets continued to course down her spotted cheeks.

The jackal was the last one and as soon as she was free the canine moved to the others and gathered them up. “I can get them out of here,” she offered. “You two go save the others.”

“Are you sure?” Nick asked with a frown.

The jackal named Rebecca nodded. “I am. Go save the others.”

Delgato moved aside as the canine helped the others out, following his direction when he pointed down the hall that he and Nick had come from. “Well, that’s less civvies in the way. Shall we continue?”

“By all means,” Nick said, his lips lifting to reveal his teeth in a grin that held no mirth at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now things heat up.
> 
> You know, I had the thought a while ago that the tranquilizer guns in the movie were...well...they weren't really viable in a tense situation where there might be multiple suspects, and a few others had the same idea, so why not use standard semiautomatic firearms but with sabots the held the darts containing the soporifics used to subdue hostile individuals. A low powder charge in a casing would generate enough power for kinetic delivery, and enables a sustained engagement capability. Then something like a carbine with 20 round magazine for longer engagements, multi dart shotgun shells...
> 
> I'm thinking something along the lines of the Luago Alien, but with an integral suppressor... Thoughts from y'all?


	11. Chapter 11

“Ah!” Natasha Dyyvol said as she gestured with her champagne flute towards a badger that was making the rounds of the large room, his simple tuxedo looking out of place with the deep crimson fez perched on his head as he spoke to a pair of coyotes. “It seems Azal Farook has noticed you, my dear,” she told the bunny that was being led around by the leash attached to the metal collar still around her neck. “If he wants you I think he’s going to need to come up with a princely sum.” The rabbit circled around behind the yellow furred bunny and teased her paw up and down Judy’s bare back before tweaking her tail and cupping her rump possessively. “You’re just too delicious to give away easily, even for the profit I know you’d fetch.”

Judy repressed a shiver and bit back the urge to turn around and bite the other rabbit. Of course, that sort of response was the only one that was truly an option as her wrists were bound behind her with actual restraints made of padded vinyl, as were her ankles. It was enough that she could walk, so long as the bunny only took small steps. It went with the outfit that Natasha had forced her into of patent leather trimmed with lace, the whole ensemble covering the necessary parts, but still made Judy feel quite exposed, though she believed that was the whole purpose. That there was actually a substantial cross section of society that enjoyed dressing as she was, and found erotic release in bondage and domination, was beyond her comprehension.

“Natasha,” the badger wheezed as he drew near, a smile that caused Judy to shudder as it was directed towards her, “where do you find such tasty little treats?”

The older rabbit chuckled in a low, throaty manner. “Oh, no, Azal. You’ll get no secrets from me. I am going to take it that you like my newest pet? Hmm?” Natasha asked as she slipped her paw around Judy’s waist, pulling the bunny tighter against her and ran her pads down the younger doe’s hip and thigh. “She is precious, isn’t she?”

“That she is,” the badger said with an open leer, leaning close so that he could sniff the young bunny’s scent. “I’ll make you an offer of twenty five thousand for her,” he said as he reached a paw out as if to touch but stopped short as he worked his mouth about and swallowed in a clear effort not to openly drool.

“Twenty five?” Natasha asked with feigned surprise. “Why, Azal, if you’re willing to start the bidding that high for this pretty bit of fluff I’ll just have to put her up for bid to see who wants her more!” She started to walk away, giving only a slight tug to the leash in her paw.

Judy complied as the end of the lead contained the workings of a stunner that she’d already had demonstrated when Harriet tried to balk at the outfit she was forced into, when the badger upped his offer.

“Thirty five thousand!” he hissed, his eyes darting around to ensure no one might have overheard.

Natasha turned with a look of disdain. “Really, Azal, you’ll have to do better than that. I’m thinking of keeping her myself.”

Movement out of the corner of her amethyst eyes caught Judy’s attention and she cast a furtive glance towards the door she and the other girls had been brought through for the first round of bidding and saw first one, then the other of the heavies that Natasha Dyyvol had for guards simply slipped to the floor. It was enough to get her heart racing as she saw the flash of red fur before Nick’s face peeked around the corner to take in the room with the shadowy form of Delgato behind him. They needed a distraction to keep attention away from them and the bunny knew the perfect way of pulling all eyes in the room to her.

Swallowing down the surge of bile that wanted to fill her muzzle, Judy turned and leaned into the older bunny, nuzzling her neck and throat while leaning forward and rubbing her upper body on the other doe. She forced her head under Natasha’s chin, making sure that she brushed against the other’s scent gland before running her cheek up along the older rabbit’s and lipped the base of her ear. The sudden attention was enough to cause Dyyvol to drop her glass, the sound cutting through the quiet susurration of conversations that filled the room and making everyone look at the display between Judy and Natasha.

The attempt to cause a diversion was perhaps a little too effective as Judy found her face trapped by the older rabbit’s paws, Natasha’s muzzle pressed to hers as the other bunny’s tongue flitted against her lips before worming into her mouth. Judy wanted to pull away…to scream…to lash out, but all she could do was stand there, her paws clenching into ineffectual fists while the kiss deepened and Dyyvol rubbed herself against the younger bunny in a lewd display.

‘Hurry up before I vomit, Nick!’ Judy screamed in the vaults of her own mind, wanting to be away from this place, wanting a shower, wanting anything other than what she was forced into doing at that moment.

*********************

Nick gestured to Delgato and the pair dispatched the door guards with two shots each from the hallway, the sounds of the tranq pistols going unheard by the crowd in the room. When Nick peered around the corner a swath of yellow caught his attention and he saw Judy, a collar around her throat being led about by the bunny that had taken her. The fox also saw the flash of amethyst eyes as his wife looked right at him. He ducked back around the corner. “Eyes on Judy,” he told the tiger that also took a quick look.

“Holy shit…” Delgato said and yanked the fox back around in time to see Judy begin her display. “She’s, uh, trying to cause a distraction, right?” the tiger whispered with a shocked expression.

“Yeah,” Nick said before doing a moment’s double take. “At least I hope so.” He scanned the room and counted six more guards. “I’ll go left, you take right. Meet you at the other end.”

The tiger’s only response was to tap the fox on the shoulder, the ‘GO’ signal that all of them learned for tactical clearing of rooms when they did cross training with special units like the Razorbacks and hostage teams.

Crouching low, Nick darted into the room, following the wall with his pistol leading the way. No sooner had the first guard noticed movement, actually looking across the room at Delgato, then Nick put two darts into him, his finger stroking the trigger twice more for the other guard, making sure that both were down before going for the last two in the room who were already headed towards the tiger, his greater bulk making him the more conspicuous target of the two police officers. The only way to his friend was through the still distracted crowd that had moved closer to watch the display, and inadvertently gave Nick an opening. The pistol repeatedly mad little Pfft-hissss! noises as he sent dart after dart at the pair of guards, both bears, and Nick wanting to make sure that each had more than a single dart in them.

Unfortunately the last one somehow dodged tranqs from both Nick and Delgato and pulled a weapon of his own and sighted on the tiger. The large pistol was far from the benign weapons the two police officers used and the discharge of the firearm was like a thunder clap in the large room, the report actually hurting Nick’s ears, though it had the same effect on several other mammals. The first shot went wide, but not the second or third. With growing horror, the fox watched as the second round smacked into Delgato’s chest, stopping his advance while the third shot tore through the tiger’s left shoulder with a geyser of blood.

“Del!” the fox screamed, though his voice was lost in the terrified cacophony that erupted from the various mammals and they began to dash in every direction possible, to stunned and frightened to immediately head for the doors on either end of the room. Fortunately the maddened pell-mell of the mammals that were there to purchase young girls kept the bear from seeing Nick until it was too late and he slumped with a snarl on his muzzle as multiple darts struck him in the stomach and chest.

As soon as Nick was sure that the bear wasn’t functioning he turned to find his wife.

Judy hadn’t been idle as her mate and fellow cop moved into the room. As soon as she heard the first faint cough of a tranq pistol, the bunny used both legs to jump backwards, her momentum ripping the end of the leash and its incorporated stunner out from Natasha Dyyvol’s paw. The maneuver carried her into the badger, Azal, and both tumbled to the floor. Judy didn’t waste the opportunity and folded in on herself, bending her legs as tight as she could and continued to roll and pushed her arms down, slipping her feet between her bound wrists so that when she got upright once more her paws were in front of her. In a reverse of the direction she’d just come, Judy bent her legs before exploding forward in a powerful leap that sent her careening into Natasha Dyyvol, the bunny’s muzzle and expression twisted into a grin of maniacal glee as she frightened the pellets out of the older rabbit.

“Oh, yeah,” Judy said once they came to a stop, the yellow dyed bunny sitting on the other with her legs pinning Natasha’s arms, “I guess I forgot to tell you. ZPD. You’re under arrest.”

As his mate was taking down the rabbit that had been abducting young females all over the city, Nick was trying to make his way to her before finally getting fed up trying to push through the crowd and began darting random mammals. He’d probably get disciplined by Bogo once it was all over, but at the moment he was too tired, too sore, and too angry to really care. “You got her, love?” he called to Judy his voice cracking from the strain, ebbing adrenaline and a room full of propellants from the tranq pistols and firearms.

“Go check on Del,” his bunny told him with a nod.

Nick waved his pistol as he turned to the tiger, almost to the other officer when the doors at the far end of the room exploded, armored figures in black riot gear and gasmasks pouring in with weapons at the ready, the red beams of laser aim assists dancing all over the open space, several winding up on Nick’s chest.

“FREEZE! ZPD!” several of the figures yelled at once. “Drop the weapon! DROP IT!”

Nick let his pistol fall, immediately getting to his knees and putting his paws on his head. “Nicholas Wilde! ZPD! I have an officer down!”

One of the figures approached and pulled off his mask, a smile twisting his already homely face into a grotesque caricature of amusement. “Nick?” the boar asked as he waved his fellow Razorbacks off to sweep the rest of the room and warehouse. “The hell are you doing here?” 

“Sergeant Swiney,” the fox said with a smile as he slumped down, pulling his clawed leg out from the uncomfortable position it had been in. “You’re late. We already broke up the party. Get someone on Delgato, would you? He took a hit to the shoulder and a couple to the chest.”

The boar called for an assist for the tiger who simply waved his thanks as he snarled silently in pain. “Yeah, I can see that. What happened to your leg?”

“Crazy lynx,” the fox managed to get out before he was toppled by a very enthusiastic bunny that through her arms over her husband’s head and tried to hug him, shuddering breaths telling Nick just how happy she was that he was there. “It’s okay, hunny-bunny,” he cooed as his paws gripped her tight and he rested his head alongside hers. “I’m here, love. I’ve got you.” They shared a long kiss before Nick looked at the SWAT boar. “Hey, Swiney. Get these things off Carrots, will you? I need me a proper hug and she can’t do it all trussed up.”

As one of the Razorbacks freed Judy Nick filled in the SWAT leader about the girls they sent out, the bunny filling in small gaps until Chief Bogo arrived. The water buffalo took note of the injuries, his officers assuring him that nothing was life threatening and listened to what Judy, Nick and Delgato had to say. The bull finally heard enough, his expression darkening by the moment. “Where is this Mrs. Dyyvol now?” Bogo asked, his voice dangerously low before his scowl fell on the leader of the Razorbacks.

“Got her all collared in a room back that way like I was told by the lead investigator,” Swiney said with a grin and wink at Nick. “He said he wasn’t done talking to her yet.”

“Good,” the Chief said, his voice sounding more like stone rubbing against stone as his grin broadened, though it only served to make the cape buffalo look rather demonic. “Come on you two. Let’s go have a chat with Mrs. Dyyvol.”

Judy stopped Bogo. “Uh, negative, Sir. Nick needs medical attention as well,” she said while looking at the simple wrap around the gouges in her mate’s leg.

“I’m fine,” the fox said as he tried to get up only to find his wife glaring at him before she stood and began tapping her right foot rapidly on the floor with fists on hips. “You know, on second thought…”

“She’s right,” Bogo said before pointing at Swiney. “Get him out to a bus and make sure he stays there.” The bull started to walk away before he paused and looked back over his shoulder. “Better yet, make sure he goes to the hospital along with Officer Delgato.”

“Sir?” the boar asked uncertainly.

“Personally, Sergeant. I know these two. If they don’t cooperate, shoot them. Shoot them both.” Bogo said as he and Judy disappeared into the back.

*******************

“How’s the shoulder?” Nick asked as he stepped out of the trauma room, most of the left leg of his pants having been cut away so that the doctor could get to the slashes in his thigh, his leg now wrapped in white gauze. He’d required a number of sutures, twenty three in all. He used a single crutch only for the purpose of keeping the doctor, a truculent pine marten, from berating him in a voice that was just a touch to shrill for the fox’s liking.

“Through and through,” Delgato said, lifting his arm slightly in the blue fabric sling, the sleeve of the tiger’s shirt looking like his friend’s pants and having been removed to make access to the wound easier. “I won’t be hitting the gym for a couple of weeks. You?”

Nick made a face and indelicate sound. “Get a couple of scratches and everyone gets all twitchy.“ He was cut off when his phone rang and reached into his pocket to retrieve it while holding up a single finger on his other paw towards Delgato. “Hey Carrots!” he said cheerfully. “Wha-“ he started then went silent. His smile faded and was replaced by a frown. Then frown gave way to silent rage. “On it,” the fox said before grabbing the tiger and heading for the exit, Swiney falling in step with them. 

“Nick? What’s going on?” the tiger asked in confusion, his eyes concerned as he was physically dragged out of the emergency room.

Nick didn’t answer, too many ears in the area that didn’t need to know, and waited until they got outside, the fox leaning the crutch against the wall next to the door before heading for the cruiser that was always at the hospital, the posting of police at the emergency rooms of all hospitals in the city a standard precaution after the Night Howler crisis. “Officers Wilde, Delgato and Swiney,” the fox said as he held up his badge, the tiger with him following suit while the boar relied on his tactical gear for identification. “I need your car.”

The polar bear looked at the fox as if he’d lost his mind. “I’m not giving you my car!” the bruin exclaimed, her voice sounding almost exactly like Nick’s drill sergeant from the ZPD Academy.

“Yes, you are,” Nick said. “If you don’t like it call Chief Bogo, but we’re taking the car.” He stood glaring at her for a few seconds before she relented and passed the keys over.

“Why do I get the feeling I’m going to regret this,” the polar bear muttered.

“It’d be worse if you didn’t,” Nick said as he took the keys and climbed in before realizing it wasn’t set up for a mammal as small as he was and moved over for Delgato, though the tiger wasn't in any condition to get behind the wheel and his gaze fell on Swiney. “Okay,” he said, his face still a study in simmering anger. “You drive.”

As soon as they were on the street and heading to the precinct building the head of the Razorbacks broke the silence as he used lights and sirens to exit the hospital lot and hit the street. “What’s going on, Nick? I swear that you’re absolutely pissed right now and if I were to drop an egg on your head it’d be cooked through in half a minute!”

“You could say that,” the fox admitted as he clenched and unclenched his paws. “Dyyvol spilled everything after less than ten minutes with Bogo and Carrots. She admitted to luring girls in and selling them to the highest bidders. Chief’s got forensics and detectives headed to her residence and business to pull every scrap of evidence they can and go over everything with a fine toothed comb. Thirty three girls went missing before all this. Most from the hostel, all young, pretty with no real family. Others she snatched from the street…homeless children…ones from shelters, runaways…” the fox told his friends as they made their way through the late evening traffic that was blessedly light while he fought the feeling of wanting to be sick to his stomach.

“Waitaminute!” Delgato said as he swerved around a minivan, his foot a little heavy on the accelerator. “Thirty three not including…?” he began, his tone reflecting the fox’s disgust. “We…we never heard of that many missing kids! What the hell?!?”

Nick nodded slowly as the tiger glanced at him. “That’s because she had an inside mammal. He’d clear the reports, wipe them from the data base so that no one knew and there was no record.”

“Mother fucker!” Degato roared as his claws dug into the padded vinyl of the simple arm rest and his teeth audibly ground together as he clenched his jaw muscles. “Who? Who did it?!?”

“Detective Lew Roarson,” the fox said before turning backwards to regard the tiger. “Chief wants us to take him down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, just a slight addition to the end there with the addition of Sergeant Joe Swiney. I sort of forgot him on the first run, so he gets to be part of the next segment. Things like that happen as you have to consider most fan-fic that gets posted is a rough first draft, and few of us have the benefit of editors and proofers outside of you wonderful readers!
> 
> Of course adding Swiney in means a bit of a rewrite for the upcoming chapter, but I'm cool with that.


	12. Chapter 12

Joe Swiney took one of the last turns into the Precinct One lot a little too fast, the inertia sending the tiger in the backseat into the door, a hiss of pain as his shoulder was jostled escaping his tightly clenched jaws. Nick was holding onto the door handle built into the armrest to keep from sliding all over a car seat that was designed for a much larger mammal than the fox. “I think I’d like to get to the station in one piece,” Nick grunted as he involuntarily jerked his injured leg.

“Sorry about that,” the boar grunted, his tone indicating that he wasn’t anything other than angry. 

Nick couldn’t blame the lead officer for the tactical team. Maintaining law and order on the streets was bad enough without one of their own turning on them. That and all three officers wondered just how long Detective Lewis Roarson had been on the take and what else was he involved in. That they had a confession that the cop was profiting off mammal trafficking had all three mammals off balance. The detective sergeant was one of those cops that the rest admired and looked up to and tried to emulate. That the façade he presented to the ZPD and city at large was a sham went beyond disappointment and bordered on the worst sort of betrayal.

“So how do you think we should go about this?” Nick asked, unsure as to how to proceed. They didn’t cover instances of this nature in the Academy training regimen and the rest of the Razorbacks were busy cleaning up the debacle at the warehouse.

“I’d like to just shoot him,” Delgato snarled softly. “But I suppose we should give him a chance to come quietly.”

“No arguments from me,” Swiney chimed in.

“Do you really think he’ll give up? I mean, he’s got to have all the money he was getting from those kids somewhere…an off-shore account or something. Do you think he’s really going to let that go?” Nick asked as he unconsciously touched his tranq pistol.

“Probably not,” the tiger grunted as they pulled in front of Zootopia’s Precinct One building. “Lew’s quick for being on just the other side of fifty. If we’re together it gives him a real good chance of shooting two out of three of us.”

“So we split up and go at him from different angles,” Nick agreed. “You know, I’ve got a bad feeling on this.”

Delgato made a rude noise as his paw touched the door latch. “So what part of any of this has been good?” he asked rhetorically. “Your buddy’s in the hospital with half a dozen holes in his gut, who knows how many cubs have been sold off that we’ll never find, and the reason no one knew a damned thing was one of our own…a guy we all used to think was a hero, has been making cash off of it and covering it all up. When did any of this seem good?”

Nick turned to look at the building that had come to mean so much to him, that seemed to stand for something that Nick could believe in. That he would be passing through the doors to arrest one of their own made his stomach tighten painfully. As he peered through the large panes of glass that made up most of the front of the outside wall for the public area, the fox’s ears laid flat with what was getting ready to go down. 

“Bogo said that Lew was still logged in. If he’s in his office it’ll be easier. Less chance for collateral damage and others in a crossfire if it comes down to it.” The boar was frowning and it gave the porcine officer an even more intimidating appearance than normal.

“Let’s do this,” Nick finally muttered as he tripped the door handle and swung down to the ground.

A short pause at the reception desk and glance at the logs showed that Lewis Roarson was still in the building even though it was well past his time to be gone for the evening. “So he’s still here,” Swiney said as he looked over the fox’s head at the door tally. “That means he should still be in his office.”

“Possibly,” Nick agreed before glancing at movement towards the elevators. “Aw, hell…” he lamented when the doors opened with their quarry stepping out, jacket and shirt a little rumpled, his tie undone and dangling from an open collar and a briefcase in the detective’s paw. Next to the cougar that they’d come to arrest was Benjamin Clawhauser, the cheetah showing something to the veteran cop on his phone, most likely something new he’d found that had to do with the singer Gazelle.

The tiger swore under his breath. “Get Benji out of there, Nick,” Delgato mumbled softly, catching the silent nod as the fox agreed while he and Swiney angled cautiously towards the cougar.

“Hey, Clawhauser!” Nick called as he hobbled a couple of steps towards the pair of felines. “You got the paperwork for me and Del? Chief said if we don’t have incident reports filled out and on his desk in an hour we’re both gonna be in serious trouble.”

The portly cheetah looked at the two, each one bandaged, battered and still fairly bloody, his light brown eyes widening as his mouth fell open far enough to create another chin. “I didn’t hear anything from the Chie…Oh-em-goodness! What happened?!?”

“Just a typical day in the lovely and picturesque city of Zootopia,” the fox replied as he tried to steer Clawhauser away from the cougar. “More Gazelle apps, Benji? You really should get a percentage of her marketing budget,” Nick quipped as he pointed to the smart phone that had a smear of donut icing on the edge before his ears flattened at the look that Roarson gave both him and the other two officers.

In a fraction of a moment all three knew what was happening, the cougar’s eyes hardening as all emotion drained from them, Degato and Swiney’s also changed as they were filled with stoic resolution. 

Without really stopping to think about it, the fox tripped the cheetah while pushing him away so that the gentle receptionist was out of arms reach of the detective. Unfortunately it made Nick the only available target. With a speed that belied his age and nearly thirty years in the police department, Lewis Roarson threw his left arm and the briefcase in his paw around catching Swiney the suddenly in the face, the boar flying backwards with blood streaming from his broad snout. The sound of breaking bone accompanied the impact of the metal case. In a continuation of the motion of his arm, Lewis grabbed the fox’s throat while his other was suddenly wrapped around the grip of a pistol, the barrel of which was pressed against the Nick’s skull.

“Stand aside, you two!” Roarson growled softly, his lips lifting to reveal his teeth in an open expression of contempt.

The tiger shook his head, his own tranq pistol appearing in his paw while his right arm remained steady. “Can’t do that, Lew. You know why. Put Nick down and come quietly.” 

Nick could feel the cougar’s heart slamming hard in his chest, could almost smell the fear radiating through his clothes, though his main concern was trying to take the pressure off his throat where Roarson had his arm wrapped under the fox’s chin while his feet dangled off the floor. “Bogo knows,” he rasped, his paws trying to get some kind of purchase as both air and blood were impeded. “Don’t make this harder…”

“You shut your mouth!” the huge cat snarled as he smacked Nick’s muzzle with his weapon, the pistol not one of the issue tranquilizers, but an actual firearm. “I’m going to get out of here and you’re going to help me, you understand?” Roarson asked as he flexed his muscles, cutting off all air for a moment and subduing Nick’s struggles.

“And go where?” Delgato bit off. “There’s nowhere to run…no way you can get out, Lew. Give up and we’ll do what we can to get you a deal. Help us shut this down and we’ll put in-“

Two blasts from the cougar’s weapon smacked into the heavy desk next to the tiger causing the officer to dive for cover while the mammals in the immediate vicinity scrambled away, most emitting sounds of dismay, screams, and swearing as nearly all of the uniformed officers were support staff and not beat cops.

As far as Nick was concerned the discharges from the pistol might have been additional blows to his head and his ears rung painfully with the reports. He saw Delgato glance up from the cover he’d taken, the tiger’s eyes registering shock that the detective was actually going to finish the ride all the way, no matter the consequences. Another glance for Swiney showed that the boar was still trying to shake the daze of the hit that had sent him flying.

“Shoot me!” the fox mouthed silently, to which he got a small head shake in return. If he could have spared the air Nick would have sighed in frustration at his friend’s reluctance to put a dart in him. It would be harder for Nick to be used as a living shield if he were dead weight.

A lightening fast blow to his leg made the fox scream out in pain as Roarson hit his injured thigh with the pistol, several of the sutures popping loose or tearing through skin, the surge of agony causing stars to appear in Nick’s vision that were accentuated by the lack of oxygen. 

“Knock it off, Wilde! Just be still and quiet and you might live through this,” the cougar growled into his ear as he backed towards the door. 

When he risked a glance outside the enormous panes of glass Roarson stiffened in reaction to the number of cruisers that had appeared, their light bars flashing red and blue that seemed overly bright in the darkness. Foremost in front of the bevy of officers was the form of Bogo. The cougar began swearing under his breath as he rapidly sidestepped to the sculpted limestone planters that sat near the platform that served the department when reporters were present for news conferences.

“They were cast offs…those girls. No one would miss them. No one cared about them. Just warm flesh. If that stupid meddling runt of fox had just stayed out of it none of this would have happened, you know,” Lewis Roarson told his captive. “I thought he was done for,” the cat continued as his eyes darted around, his desperation evident in the timbre of his voice. “Little bastard was tougher than I gave him credit for.”

Nick felt his blood suddenly run cold. “You stabbed Finnick?” he asked in a hoarse whisper, hardly able to manage more with the pressure on his throat.

“If you mean that little shit that found out what was going on, yeah.” The cougar whipped the pistol from the windows and doors to the reception desk where Delgato took cover, ignoring the rotund cheetah who was just now gathering his feet under him, a look of supreme confusion and hurt on his normally smiling face. “Shoulda sliced his throat…”  
It was more than Nick could bear and he felt anger bubble up. All of the girls that had been taken, sold, used…his wife in jeopardy…his oldest friend on the edge of death…

Evolution had pulled so many mammals up out of the savage morass of prehistory, but deep down, regardless if a creature was predator or prey, that primitive portion still existed, still slept, and quite possibly always would. The fox that was Nick, the wise-cracking, joking, but still a warm and caring individual was nudged aside as the un-evolved fox came out and lent its strength to the moment.

Relaxing as much as possible, the not-Nick waited until it felt a loosening of the arm around his throat before exploding into action. Hurt, fear and rage gave the animal a feral strength and speed that enabled him to lift his head straight up and slip through the crook of his captor’s arm and dropped straight down. With snarling anger the savage fox then spun and leapt at the cougar, his green eyes wide with a furious gleam to them and maw wide open. There was still something of Nick within, though, and instead of going for the feline’s face or throat as instinct demanded, the lunge was instead turned to the wrist with the gun.

“What the…!” Roarson exclaimed a moment before teeth sank deep into his wrist, passing through fur and puncturing deep into the skin underneath and penetrating muscle. Finally letting go of the briefcase that fell to the floor, the latches springing open with the impact, Lewis Roarson, thirty two year veteran, nineteen of those years as a detective, felt the icy stab of fear. Flailing desperately he tried to pull the fox off his wrist before giving up and began pummeling the savage beast that had a hold of him. Then, in a final desperate ploy, the cougar swung his arm, the fox’s body impacting hard with the stone planter, the meaty thud accompanied by a yelp of pain.

His injured wrist cradled to his body as his chest heaved with a need for air, the cougar stood, visibly shaken before turning to retrieve his briefcase, accidentally kicking it as he reached for the lid and sent the stacks of cash inside across the floor. Dropping to his knees in the first stages of panic, Roarson barely recognized the sound of a pistol being cocked and looked up a moment before Benjamin Clawhauser, in his opinion the softest cop on the entire ZPD, pointed a tranq at him and fired twice, the expression on the cheetah’s face one of shock and disbelief. As he fell forward, the world around him already slipping away, the cougar’s paw tightened on a wad of money with his last conscious thought as darkness filled his mind that perhaps none of this had been worth it after all.

******************

The world didn’t look right and Nick watched as McHorn and Trankabee hauled the limp body of Detective Sergeant Lewis Roarson away while other figures moved around him, another gaggle around Swiney as they helped the boar up, a cacophony of voices filling his ears, even though what they said made no sense. Past the bodies that surrounded him, the fox saw Benjamin Clawhauser standing in the middle of the entry area as Grizzoli gently lowered the tranq pistol in the cheetah’s hands before plucking it from unresponsive fingers.

Then he focused on a grey blur near his head, the image of his wife slowly coming into focus, her amethyst eyes wide with dread and fear as her mouth worked up and down. “Hey…Carrots…” he breathed, a smile splitting his muzzle. He tried to sit up until something pushed him back to the cool marble of the floor. He looked down to see a huge hoof resting gently on his chest before following it up to the worried face of Chief Bogo. “We…got him…right…?”

The cape buffalo nodded, his voice sounding like it came from the end of a tunnel. “We got him, Wilde. Now rest easy. Ambulance is en route.”

Nick nodded before his eyes turned to his mate’s. “The girls…got them out…?”

Judy nodded vigorously, the action causing sparkling drops of moisture to fly from her fur. “We got them,” she informed her husband as her paw stroked his head fur.

“Tha’s good…” the fox said as he involuntarily licked at the blood around his mouth and frowned. “Need…need a cuppa water…” he told them before his eyes closed and he knew nothing else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of action and a touch of re-write, but I think I got it down okay. 
> 
> Survey says?


	13. Chapter 13

A soft groan from the hospital bed pulled the cheetah out of his funk and he jerked up, the sudden movement causing the waddles of his neck to jiggle vigorously for a moment as Benjamin Clawhauser’s light brown eyes to lose the vagueness that had filled them a fraction of a moment before. “D-don’t move too much,” he told the supine figure softly, his voice lacking the normal enthusiastic liveliness that infused it. “The doctor says that you have a concussion and also have a bruised spine, but nothing’s broken. Still, they want you to lay still.”

The russet furred fox nodded. “So that’s why it feels like I’ve been hit by a truck,” Nick muttered while lifting a paw to shade his eyes from the harsh fluorescent lights overhead. “Benji…can you off the lights? They really, really hurt right now.”

“Oh...sure…” the large feline said and flicked the wall switch down leaving the only illumination coming from the permanent light at the head of the bed though it wasn’t shining directly into the fox’s sensitive eyes or exacerbating his aching head. “Better?”

“Much,” Nick replied with the ghost of a smile on his muzzle. “You know where Judy is?”

Clawhauser nodded. “Chief’s got her in the conference room a couple of floors down for debrief.”

“Really? What about the kids? How’s Swiney? And Roarson?”

The cheetah dropped his head, unable or unwilling to look the fox in his eyes. Nick knew what the matter was and tried sitting up, however his leg wasn’t responding as it should and he looked down to see that the bandages had been replaced and the area around the gouges was still numb. “Hey…Benji. It’s okay,” Nick said as he swung his right leg over the edge before lifting the left with both paws, the effort causing everything from the neck up to feel like it was going to fall apart.

“Would you lay back down?” Clawhauser grumbled, his voice filled with the first hint of frustration that the fox had ever heard from the cheetah. “You’re going to get us both in trouble.”

Nick snorted in amusement. “Yeah. Like I’ve never been in trouble before.”

“Seriously,” the large cat said with a frown and small furrow forming between his brows. “Lay down before you hurt yourself even worse.” He’d actually gotten up out of one of the two chairs in the room and all but stomped to the side of the hospital bed.

The fox shook his head. “Nope. Got something more important to do,” he said with a wince as his back protested to the position he was in.

“What? What’s more important you…you stupid fox?!?” Benjamin demanded, his chest heaving as he sucked in deep breaths a little too rapidly.

“Oh, just that one of my best friends did something tonight that’s got him a little messed up,” Nick looked pointedly at the cheetah and nodded. “He had to do something that I don’t think he’s ever done before, and he’s hurting inside.”

Clawhauser scowled hotly, his paws clenched into tight fists at his side with a look like he was going to explode in a tirade before deflating, the anger vanishing as quickly as it had arisen, the look on his face becoming forlorn and agonized.

“What that friend doesn’t know is that he saved my life tonight and I owe him big for that.”

A trembling palsy seemed to run through the cat as his eyes filled. He tried to open his muzzle to speak twice before actually getting his throat to work properly. “I never shot anyone before, Nick…”

The fox nodded, a wan smile on his own muzzle as he patted the bed next to him, waiting for the cheetah to get settled before putting an arm around his fellow officer. “I know,” Nick said softly, feeling the shiver that ran through the portly feline. “You’ve got to remember, though, it was just a tranq dart. You didn’t kill anyone. You did keep me from getting a case of the dead, though, and that sort of balances things out, right?” He watched as Clawhauser nodded slightly his paws clasped together and resting between his knees. “I know that Carrots would’ve been a little put out if you hadn’t saved me and everyone else. Roarson was using a firearm, Benji. He had no problem with the thought of killing another mammal.”

The other officer was silent for several seconds before speaking. “That…that’s what’s tearing me up! I’ve known Lew since I became a cop. I never thought he’d…that he could…”

Nick tightened his arm for a moment to convey that he understood. “Hey, he was admired by a lot of us, which is what makes all of this that much worse.” His ears perked up as a thought came to him, now that he wasn’t in the thick of it, details emerging from the takedown of the detective. “You also saved Kathy, you know. She was there as well. If it hadn’t been for you she could’ve gotten hurt. She’s support, not a beat cop and doesn’t have the experience to get away from danger.”

Benjamin looked up. “R-really? Kathy was there?”

Nick nodded. It was no secret that Benjamin had been harboring quite the crush on one of the ZPD’s latest hires, a rather attractive lynx that worked in the records section. The fox and cheetah had found her the topic of discussion during the course of several of the weekly workouts in the precinct gym. “She was, and you helped keep her from getting hurt,” Nick informed his friend. “He wondered if it was time to tell Clawhauser that the feline was interested in him right back. Just as he was about to break the news, something he was sure would help cheer the cheetah up, the door opened to admit an exhausted Judy and a frowning Bogo.

“Can’t you ever follow orders?” the cape buffalo inquired sourly, though his expression nowhere near matched his tone as he watched the bunny silently go to her husband and jump up on the bed before tenderly wrapping her arms around his neck, careful of the fox’s battered condition. “I’ll swing by your apartment in a couple of days to get your report, Nicholas,” Bogo told him, his voice tired sounding. 

The Chief paused with an eyebrow going up at Nick’s silent nod towards the cheetah until the fox held up his paw where Clawhauser couldn’t see it and mimed a gun. Bogo nodded and put a hoof on the cheetah’s shoulder to guide him from the room.

“Let’s go talk, Benji,” the bull suggested gently as he steered the other officer towards the door, pausing to cast a pointed look at Nick. “Rest, Wilde. That’s an order.”

“Whatever you say, Chief,” the fox replied, his voice muffled where he buried his face into the crook of Judy’s shoulder, throwing a thumbs-up gesture before turning his attention to something much more important. “How you holding up, love?”

“Just wanna sleep…” the bunny replied softly. “Got three days mandatory off time to make sure the drugs are outta my blood,” Judy told him, the exhaustion clear in her voice.

“And you’ve earned it,” Nick said as he squeezed his wife gently, one paw stroking the fur at the back of her head and neck. “And they gave me this absolutely huge bed and it would be a shame to waste all this space.”

Judy shook her head even though she hadn’t relinquished her hold on her mate. “It’s against the rules…”

“Pfff. It’s part of my recovery therapy,” Nick said as he guided his wife to lay down, flicking his wrist to keep the IV lines from getting tangled as he pulled her into his chest. “This is the best medicine for me to get better,” the fox continued before realizing that his bunny was already asleep, her breathing slow and even, the pinched and troubled tightness that had been between her eyes vanishing. “That and now I know where you’re at,” he whispered with a kiss between her ears as he settled as well, his eyes filling as he took in her scent, his free paw continuing to stroke her silken fur. “I love you, Judy,” Nick whispered, more than happy to go back to being a beat cop once they were cleared for duty once more, undercover work having taken its toll for the moment.

****************

Though technically discharged, the hospital staff, particularly Nick’s primary nurse, a lioness named Gina Pawmore, wouldn’t let him pad around the hospital on his own and insisted he use a wheelchair until after he passed through the front doors to go home. The fox had tried to tell her that he was fine when the nurse gave him a very toothy smile and crossed her arms, leaning down so that he had to look into her green-gold eyes.

“You can try to balk me, Mister Wilde, but if you do it means that I will carry you and I don’t think that you’ve progressed far enough to fight me on this,” Gina told him sweetly. “That would mean that you’d have to spend more than a little time with me and I have bedpans that need to be emptied. It would be nice to have an extra set of paws for that.”

“Ah…I think the wheelchair will be fine,” Nick relented, his muzzle expressing his distaste.

“See?” Judy said with a smirk that she’d learned from her mate. “I told you he could be reasonable with the proper motivation!”

“Shush, you,” Nick told his bunny with a sullen expression as the lioness physically set him in the wheelchair, his head tucked between his shoulders and his arms crossed. “I’m only agreeing because I know how nasty those bedpans can get.”

“Just because yours spilled when you wouldn’t listen to me,” Gina supplied as she dropped the small bag of belongings that her patient had acquired after a little less than a week on the pawbars of the chair. “And I don’t want to see you back here any time soon,” she admonished. “You’ve been too much of a regular around here.”

“Too right he has,” Judy said as she fell into step beside her mate, her paw seeking his and holding it tightly.

The trio crossed the expanse of the floor before getting into an elevator and stopping two floors down where critical patients were roomed. As they rounded a corner it was to find Chryssie outside of the room that Finnick was in, her paws to her muzzle, the whites of her eyes red and raw looking as she cried silently. As soon as they saw her, both Nick and Judy felt cold fear and dread fill their hearts.

“Chryssie?” Judy asked softly as they drew near the room where the desert fox was still under intensive care.

The tanuki looked up and leapt at the bunny, latching onto her with all of the strength she possessed, sobbing hard with every exhale and shuddering with each inhale. She whispered something that caused Judy to visibly stiffen, her ears shooting straight up, Nick expecting to hear the worst possible news.

Then the raccoon dog began to bounce lightly on her feet, a smile making it past her tears.

“He’s awake! He’s awake!” Chryssie husked, her throat ravaged by all of the crying, terrible hours and lack of properly caring for herself as she kept watch over her injured boyfriend. “Finn’s awake!”

The tanuki’s strength finally gave out as she hit the end of her reserves, Judy going from holding her to holding her up until Nick pushed the wheelchair out of Gina’s paws and scooped up the raccoon dog, casting a glance up at the lioness. “It looks like it’ll be a bit before the doctors are done with your friend. We can get her squared away first.”  
Nick and Judy gave the lioness a grateful look as she pushed them to a side room for families that had kin on the ICU floor before walking off to get smelling salts and other items they’d need. 

When Judy turned to look at her husband she saw him with his head tilted back as he looked out of the room’s window, tears streaming down his cheeks as his mouth moved in silent prayers for his oldest friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know me, I can't pass up a chance at some good drama! :P


	14. Chapter 14

“You found them?” Finnick asked, his eyes heavily lidded with an oxygen tube stuck in his nose.

“We found them,” Nick said softly as he touched his friend’s arm.

Judy nodded in agreement as she stood next to her mate, one paw resting on the red fox’s shoulder. “More than just the ones on your computer, too.”

The desert fox nodded as he drew in a breath, his lungs sounding a little too raspy for Nick’s comfort. Then again, Finn had been through hell and it showed. His cheeks were sunken and it was too easy to see bones poking through his fur where the smaller mammal had lost too much weight. His fur was dry and brittle looking, but by far the most disturbing features were Finnick’s eyes and the pale skin in his ears. Nick swallowed hard as he fought a lump in his throat realizing that for the first time in all the years he’d known the diminutive desert fox, Finn looked old.

“Dyyvol was into more than just nabbing girls for the sex trade, Mister Finster,” Bogo said as he loomed at the foot of the bed. “We’re tracking down the last of the…clients she had. To date over forty three families have been reunited with their children. There’s a long recovery for many of them, but they’re home.”

“What more was she into?” Finnick asked as Chryssie moved in with a cup full of water and a straw for him, his normally deep, thrumming voice sounding tired and lackluster.

“Maybe we should let you rest,” Nick suggested, shifting his weight to step away when the desert fox’s fingers grasped his fu with what little strength he had. The expression on his friend’s face saying what words couldn’t. “Are you sure?” Nick asked in a soft voice.

“I need to know…”

Nick sighed, his ears folding back as he lowered his head. “Cub porn. Mammal trafficking. It’s a long list.”

“She’s going away for a long time, Mister Finster,” Bogo added. “And it’s all because of you, events that you set in motion.”

A shudder ran through the desert fox and Nick looked up at the others. “Hey, guys. Can you give us a few minutes? Please?”

Judy nodded, giving her mate a small kiss on the side of his head before stepping around the bed to gather the tanuki and take her to the lounge, Chryssie looking as if she were on the verge of collapse. She’d used up all of her reserves maintaining vigil over her lover, the raccoon dog’s behavior crushing any doubts about where she felt she and Finnick were concerned in their relationship. Bogo simply nodded and followed the females out, closing the door behind them.

As soon as the two foxes were alone the tears started, the look on Finnick’s face one of complete heartbreak and an agony that wasn’t one of body, but of his soul. Nick simply took his friend’s paw, not even wincing when the desert fox’s claws buried themselves into his fur, then his flesh as the smaller vulpine gripped him with strength born of desperation.

“Does Chryssie know, Finn?”

The fennec shook his head as he closed his eyes and sucked in a wet sounding breath, sniffing hard as his body began to shake with sobs.

“You need to tell her at some point. You might not think so, but as far as she’s concerned you’re mates. Foxes don’t keep secrets from their mates.”

Finnick glanced at his friend, the only other mammal that knew of his past, fear mixing in with the suffering. “Oh?” he husked. “And you done told your bunny all your darkest secrets?”

“Actually, I have,” Nick admitted. “There’s no more hustles, no more cons. I grew up. The thing is,” he continued, a ghost of a smile pulling at his muzzle, “I learned that I don’t have to face all of the things from my past alone, and Carrots is there with me because she loves me. Of course, we’re there for you, too, and for the same reasons. So is Chryssie.” Still gripping the smaller fox’s paw, Nick reached over and helped brush his friend’s face before gripping his shoulder lightly. “You’re the closest thing I had as family for a long time. Family sticks together.”

Finnick sucked in another deep breath before letting it out in a miserable sigh as he cast his eyes upward at the ceiling tiles. “I’m tired of all this shit, Nick,” he muttered. “How can God let things like this happen to kids? To…to me…?”

“I don’t know, buddy, but we’ll be there for them. We’ll do everything we can to stop the monsters.” Nick smiled warmly at the smaller fox. “We’re the good guys, now. It’s what we do.” His smile grew and he nodded once. “And you helped us save a lot of children. You’re a hero now.”

Finnick made a rude noise and rubbed at his face, wincing when he tugged too hard on some of the IV lines. “Ain’t no hero. Look at me. I’m a mess.”

Nick shrugged. “Yeah. You’re a little rough looking right now, but if it weren’t for you we never would’ve stopped Dyyvol. All that was because of you. Now you have to get back on your feet because there’s more work to be done and we need you.”

***************

Winston Hartford, mayor elect of Zootopia, made an appearance at the hospital to see one Hiram Finster as soon as he was cleared for visitors. Along with Chief Bogo and other city officials, the elk presented the desert fox with a medal of commendation as well as a proclamation of Service to the City. While there was the standard political trappings of said visit, it seemed to Nick and Judy as if the huge cervine was indeed grateful for what Finnick had gone through and what had been accomplished due to events the small fox had set into motion. 

The trial was widely televised and followed by a substantial portion of Zootopia’s populace. The deliberations which dragged on for over a month as evidence was compiled and testimony given by victims, the police department, and the doctors that were working on undoing the damages done to so many innocents.

For Nick it was a time of concern and worry as he watched his oldest friend make an agonizingly slow recovery. 

As a means of helping as much as possible, Nick and Judy spent as much time as they could with Finnick and his girlfriend, reaffirming the outcome of the situation at every possible opportunity. When it still didn’t seem like they were getting through to the desert fox, Nick took matters to an entirely different level.

“Can’t we just go home?” Finnick groused from the passenger seat of his friend’s small convertible. “I ain’t up to this.”

Nick downshifted and swung the car into the parking lot of Precinct One before finding a spot that would actually make the other vulpine walk. “No. We can’t just go home. Now come on.”

“This ain’t funny, Nick,” Finn growled as he opened the door and got out, looking around. “What’re we doin’ here at ZPD?”

“You’ll find out.”

With a sullen expression, Finnick followed the red fox into the precinct, officers inside waving to both as Nick led the way to the building’s gym. It was dark, the desert fox’s eyes not quite adjusted to the difference from the bright fluorescent light to the darkened room. Even though his eyes hadn’t quite acclimated, there was nothing wrong with the fox’s nose and he detected the scents of several other mammals that wasn’t residuals from the cops that used the facility. Then the lights came up suddenly, making Finnick flinch slightly before his expression flickered between annoyance, anger and then surprise. 

All around were mammals, mostly young, some that looked to be elementary school age, with several of the youths were adults, obviously parents. Leaning heavily on the aluminum cane that he’d been given until the wounds he’d received were fully healed, Finnick slowly turned his head, his ears plastering themselves to the sides of his head as his mouth fell open in surprise. When the clapping of paws started, slowly at first but growing louder and more enthusiastic, the desert fox flinched, almost shrinking in on himself. Then the sound of the applause began to sound from behind him as well and the small fox turned to see that officers were streaming into the gym behind him, all of them smiling as their paws and hooves came together.

Finnick whipped his head to see Nick stepping backwards as he also clapped, his head bobbing as he nodded in silent answer to the quizzical expression on his friend’s face. The desert fox’s paws began to tremble on the grip of the cane, his chest heaving as he tried to breathe. Then he saw Chryssie step out from behind several officers including Chief Bogo, the raccoon dog’s enthusiasm greater than any of the others as her eyes glittered with unshed tears of pride.

It was more than Finnick could take and he lowered his head as the applause began to slowly fade. 

“I figured it was time to see just how many lives you touched,” Nick said. The red fox side stepped to a young kangaroo who stood with her parents and had a slightly haunted look to her dark brown eyes. “Lives like Sheila Brisbane, missing for seven months.” He moved to a young brown bear. “Or Sara Brunswick, missing for three months. The twins Holly and Ivy.” Nick gestured to all of the mammals. “Families reunited…daughters rescued from about the worst of all possible situations and brought home because of what you did.”

The different girls moved forward, some hesitant, others with enthusiasm, still others with something akin to awe to whisper thanks to the fennec or to touch his shoulders, his paws, all of them in gratitude. When Finnick lowered his head, his shoulders shaking silently, the girls, regardless of their species, gathered around and gave support to the one that responsible for their rescue and their salvation.

A strange lump in his throat, Nick made his way around the tight knot of mammals to go stand with his brothers and sisters in uniform, finding Judy and taking her paw in his, the squeeze of her fingers telling him that he’d done well. Then the feel of Bogo’s hoof on his shoulder caused the fox to look up into perhaps the softest expression he’d ever seen on the cape buffalo’s broad face.

“Well done, Wilde.”

“Only doing what was right, Chief,” Nick replied in a thick voice.

Bogo smiled and nodded. “Sometimes that’s more than enough.”

******************

Chryssie sat on the couch in Nick and Judy’s apartment with her paws holding onto Finnick’s as he told her of his past, dragging things into the light that he wished he could forget, that he could literally pull from his head and never recall or speak of again. “So, yeah. I’m a rape survivor. My own uncle of all mammals,” he said with his chin on his chest. “Do…do you know how much it hurts…how much shame there is in that?” the desert fox asked in a whisper that was barely louder than a strong exhale. “To be…to be molested and…and hurt…by someone you trust…” His head was lowered and his eyes were closed as he told the tanuki everything. “I wanted to die. Even tried to kill myself, but messed that up. And now you know it all,” he said. “And…and if you wanna leave…or walk out-“

Finnick was cut off as Chryssie moved closer and slipped her arms around the fox, pulling the two of them tightly together. “I’m not going anywhere, Finn,” she said with a sniff before rubbing her cheek against his. “So stop trying to get rid of me. I’m not going anywhere.”

A strange look spread across the fennec’s face, his eyes filled with wonder and surprise and looked to Nick and Judy for confirmation on what he thought was happening. The red fox and bunny nodded, Nick’s expression one of caring and understanding while Judy, her eyes overflowing lifted her chin defiantly while giving the desert fox a smile.

“I told you that you weren’t alone,” Nick said. “Do you believe me now?”

With a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, Finnick let all of the tension in his body out with a sigh and sank further into the embrace of Chryssie. “I…I think I…do,” he rumbled. “Now.” His head came to rest in the nook of the raccoon dog’s neck and shoulder and he reveled in the warmth and genuine affection that he felt flow from her.

It warmed the hearts of red fox and bunny to see how their two friends cared and supported the other, understanding and compassion flowing between them, Nick knowing that even further down than his own had been buried, Finnick still held on to the idea of hope. He’d learned about what had been done to the desert fox years before when they’d fallen in together and while crashing in Finn’s van the smaller fox had experienced the nightmares that plagued him far too often. It had taken almost a year for him to get the full story of what had happened, learning that his uncle on his mother’s side had taken advantage of the then ten year old. He’d used guilt to trap the kit and hold him there for over a year. When it finally became too much to bear, the shame and guilt reaching toxic levels, Finnick had run away and never looked back.

The night that Nick learned the full story had been a terrible, emotional rollercoaster, and had almost ended with the fennec trying to take his own life yet again until he’d been convinced to seek help. It had been no easy task to get Finnick to see a minister with an outreach group. While not burdened with a sense of religious obligation, it had helped some. While he was at his meeting, Nick did something that he regretted, his only real foray into slipping past petty crimes and into violence. He’d tracked down the address of Finn’s uncle and paid him a visit. He hadn’t killed the rapist and molester, but Nick had given him scars that would be visible for the rest of his life.

The day that his uncle had been found hanging from the rafter of his rundown apartment in Happytown, a letter crudely written saying that he was sorry clutched in his lifeless paw, Finnick had vanished after a minor emotional outburst of anger and tears as he trashed the interior of his own van. When he returned it was as if nothing had happened, but Nick’s friend was a little harder, a bit colder and easier to anger.

Nothing more had been said about the desert fox’s past until today and Finnick learned that none of what had been done had been his fault and that he was a victim, just like the girls he’d helped rescue.

Judy had slipped into the kitchen to prepare half of the groups lunch, the other half, different seafoods and protein dishes having been called in for delivery, leaving her mate to his own thoughts. As it was, the sudden appearance of Finnick before him surprised the fox and he blinked green eyes to find his oldest friend regarding him with brown eyes that seemed more soulful than ever before.

“Nick…I…I want to thank you,” Finn said softly before casting a glance to the kitchen area. “Y-you and Judy both. I…I don’t know what to say…” His expression looked almost pained as his already large eyes grew slightly pinched, a furrow developing between his brows.

“You don’t need to say anything,” Nick told him with a lopsided smile. “It’s what we do. You wouldn’t have stumbled across any of this if not for doing your job. You knew something wasn’t right because of your experiences, Finn. And it wouldn’t have stopped any time soon.” The red fox leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his paws clasped together. “The question is, are you ready to get back to it? There are other children that need you out there.”

“They need all of us,” the desert fox replied softly, a determination that began to grew in his heart causing his eyes to lose some of the glassiness that had glazed them as they seemed to light up from within. “Do you remember that book you got me that…that first time you found out about…uh, you know?”

“Not really. That was a long time ago,” Nick admitted.

“It was a self-help book. I was so pissed off at you for that!” Finnick told his friend as a slight frown pulled at his mouth before vanishing and a sort of shrewd expression took its place. “But I know why you did it. Thanks.” Just as Nick opened his muzzle to speak the other fox held up a paw to stop him. “It did help. But there was something in there. I been thinking a lot about it lately. Came to me in the hospital after I woke up. It feels sorta like it was written for me, like the guy that did the book knew that I’d need it later.”

“Do you remember what it said?”

Finnick grew thoughtful and lowered his gaze to the blue and green patterned throw rug beneath the pads of his feet. “Something about…let’s see…’cry for the children and their innocence lost…’” He scratched idly at one ear. “Don’t know why that came to me, but it just seems fittin’.”

Nick just nodded as he watched his friend until the desert fox moved closer, still not quite as mobile as he’d been before the attack, but he was getting better. He knew what Finnick was building up to and held his arms open in invitation. The desert fox accepted the gesture and wrapped his arms around the other fox, not really one to have become comfortable with his own emotions, but the need for support from his friend overriding all else. There was nothing else to the embrace save a sharing of camaraderie, fellowship and silent support.

“Come on, you big softie,” Nick said when he felt the other fox sigh. “It’s lunch time and I don’t want you biting my face off because your cranky.”

“Damn right,” Finnick replied in a slightly shaky voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As far as the movie 'Zootopia' goes, Nick and Finnick aren't really friends. They're business partners, coworkers for all intents and purposes. I'm sort of throwing my own spin onto their relationship by actually being friends. I think it works, but that might just be me...
> 
> On two different notes...
> 
> Dyyvol means 'devil' in Russian, something that I thought was fitting.
> 
> And finally...Title drop! I try to do tat in my stories when I can! :D


	15. Chapter 15

Chief Bogo blinked at the two officers on the other side of his desk after hearing their proposal, the written copy in a binder in front of him. He’d had some strange ideas put forth by officers before, normally concepts that were good ideas, but ultimately impossible due to budgetary concerns. The latest two that brought him something they wanted to do were Wilde and Hopps-Wilde, the fox and bunny looking at him expectantly, though it was evident they expected their proposal to be rejected as well.

“Let me get this straight,” the cape buffalo said, his voice low and almost gentle. “You want to have all of the precincts in the city open up a…a junior cadet program, and you want to open up classes in some of the worse neighborhoods to teach self defense?”

Both of the other mammals nodded in unison, though it was Judy that spoke. “With what we’ve just gone through and seen, we think that something like this is needed, Chief. Teaching others, male or female, how to protect themselves against sexual predation is needed.” The bunny took a deep breath, her back straightening as she lifted her chin defiantly. “I’m an officer, and a good one who knows how to defend herself and even I got molested during this case. I could’ve been raped and I wouldn’t know it because I was drugged at the time. I wasn’t, thank goodness, but that’s why I’m going through counseling as well.

“But what of the others out there, Chief? Only a few mammals will actually use rufies, but a lot of time it’s from someone the victim knows. How many cases will we be able to keep from showing up because someone knew how to keep it from happening in the first place?”

Nick took up the topic next. “We’re already working with Finnick and a lot of groups in the city for counseling, helping those that have already gone through something like this. It’s kept quiet and as confidential as we can make it, with different web sites helping to coordinate the effort.”

“Mister Finster is helping with this? I know he’s with Child Services and we owe him, but what experience does he have to make him qualified for something like this?” Bogo inquired.

“I’d say I’m more than qualified because I’m a rape survivor,” the desert fox said as he closed the door to the Chief’s office. “I think that gives me a little more cred than a lot of those head doctor types.” He smirked just as cockily as his friend ever had as he took the other chair in front of the desk and stood on it with his arms across his chest. “What?” he snarled looking at the other three mammals challengingly. “I was raped, I got through it and I will do everything I can to make sure it never happens to another. Got a problem with that?”

“No,” Bogo said as he held up his hooves in a placating gesture, a slightly shocked and sickened expression on his face, before pulling his glasses off and slipping them into his pocket. “I have no problem with that at all. In fact, I support this. I’ll put the call out for officers that want to volunteer. After everything that’s happened I don’t think you’ll have any shortage of cops wanting to be part of your project.” The cape buffalo flipped the binder back open. “Now, about this junior cadet program…”

“We’ve modeled it on the different groups that already exist like the Junior Ranger Scouts, Bunny Scouts and so on, but instead of learning different woodland skills, the children will be taught basic law enforcement, community service, the traits that make good police officers,” Nick explained before Judy followed up.

“And as rewards for different things like tests or physical fitness achievements, they get to maybe ride around with actual officers, take part in city events as a sort of auxiliary to the ZPD, maybe even a ride in the helicopter if they do something really special! But what really matters is getting them to develop a sense of community, that they can be part of something larger than just themselves.”

“The thing is,” Finnick said, his normally harsh expression softening, “if me and Nick had something like this when we was kits, our lives coulda been very different. A lot of the things that we had to suffer through mighta not happened, you dig?”

“And it gives you a chance to start grooming the next generation of officers,” the red fox continued. “It can take the Mammal Inclusion Initiative to the next level, and you can get all the credit, sir,” Nick said with as much sincerity in his voice and eyes as he had when he’d given his marriage vows to his mate and wife.

“Stop right there,” Bogo grunted sharply. “I don’t steal credit from my people, you get that Wilde?” the buffalo said with a hard glare that melted into a smile. “But, I like this idea and you’ve got my support. I think we can scrape a little from the budget and the police fund for this.”

The two foxes and bunny stared at each other with muzzles slightly agape at the ease with which Bogo had gotten on board with their idea, the cape buffalo pulling out a form of project approval and filled in the pertinent fields before signing his name at the bottom in bold script followed by his police ID and badge number. “I’ll take the binder home tonight and go through it more carefully, but I have to agree with you on this. It’s one of the best ideas I’ve seen in a while,” he glanced up with a wry grin. “Apart from the MII program. I never thought it would have turned out this well.”

Just as Bogo closed the binder with his written approval within the buffalo’s intercom buzzed with Clawhauser on the other end. “Chief? Your three O’clock appointment is here. Do you want me to-“

“Send them up. All the relative parties are here.” Before the cheetah could say anymore Bogo disconnected and turned the volume onto mute. “All of you have not only impressed me, but also others. As such I was wondering if you might be patient while I take a little of your time in return.”

“I should get going,” Finnick said, but before he could start to jump down from the chair the cape buffalo shook his head. 

“Stay here, Mister Finster. I need you for this as well.”

The door opened and four sets of eyes flicked to the opening, three sets registering surprise but for different reasons.

The first through the door was a young vixen, Renee smiling when she saw Nick and Judy sitting in one chair. The second was Chryssie, the raccoon dog more than a little surprised to see her boyfriend in the other chair.

Bogo stood up behind his desk and motioned the two females inside. “I received two applications for admittance into the Zootopia Police Academy the other day. Normally I would have forwarded them to the proper offices in City Hall, but I just happened to recognize the names from a couple of case reports by a couple of my best officers. As the next Academy class starts in less than a month it’s going to take a little bit of clout to get these applications cleared in time, and as two of you never really collected on any of the favors that the city owes you…”

Judy and Nick grinned openly as Renee stepped up to them, a sort of shy smile on her muzzle as she shrugged. “What can I say? I had a blast and I did something that mattered. It’s kind of addictive, you know?” She ground her toes into the carpet not unlike a very shy kit while her grin grew more pronounced. “So, I thought, if you and Nick can be cops, why can’t I?”

“Yeah,” Judy said with a chuckle. “We know all about that.”

Finnick had slid down to the floor, still moving gingerly from his recovering wounds and took a couple of wooden steps towards the tanuki. “Y-you wanna be a cop?” he asked with disbelief, his face a study of stunned surprise.

Chryssie nodded. “Everything that I’ve seen…that I’ve watched…” She swallowed hard, her eyes pleading with the fennec to understand what she felt. “Maybe…maybe if I can earn a badge I can help keep someone else going through what I watched you go through…what those kids had to suffer. Maybe I can be there for someone the way you needed…”  
Finnick’s mouth tightened as a slight furrow formed between his eyes. “Is this what you really want? Ain’t you listened to the stories Nick and Fluff have told us?”

Chryssie nodded solemnly. “This is what I want, Finn. And I have listened to the stories. That’s why I have to try. I don’t want to be a stripper forever. I don’t want to make a living by taking off my clothes and getting ogled or groped. I want to do something that really makes a difference. Like you do. Like Judy does. Like Nick.”

Had this been something from just a year before, Finnick would have stormed off in a heated exchange of swearing and anger. He would have almost thrown a petulant tantrum like a kit. 

But that was a year ago. 

Since then he’d come to understand the same things his friend had and why Nick had become a cop himself.

Zootopia was their city. It was their home. Instead of complaining about how things were, how bad some mammals had it, they were working on making it better, of becoming the dream that it represented. After all, if they weren’t willing to get their fur dirty in an effort to improve and show others the same, then they had no right to complain.

And it seemed as if that perspective was spreading.

“What if you only become a meter maid?” the desert fox challenged.

Chryssie shrugged and smiled. “Then I free up another cop that can do the job,” she answered honestly. “Besides, there’s also admin work or dispatch…it’s still better than stripping, right? Unless you like the thought of all those worked up guys looking at me…”

Finnick did something that no one that had ever met him expected. With a smile that came from deep within, the desert fox took the tanuki by the paw and pulled her close, giving her a peck on the cheek as his tail wagged furiously behind him. “I want guys to look at you and think that I’m one lucky fennec,” he said, his oddly deep voice strangely tender and caring. “You wanna be a cop, then you go be a cop,” Finnick told her as he glanced up at his friends. “I once heard a bunny tell me that in this city anyone can be anything. And you know what?” he asked as he turned back to his girlfriend. “She mighta been right.”

Even Bogo was smiling as he looked over his desk at the pair, their tails flicking to and fro in unison with so much enthusiasm that it threatened to topple the couple over. He gave it a moment more before the cape buffalo turned to his officers. “Should I take it by your expressions that I can have your endorsements for these two candidates?”

Judy nodded vigorously as she pulled out her carrot pen and clicked it with a flourish. “Where do we sign off?”

Once the paperwork was endorsed by the fox and bunny along with Bogo’s signature he sat down and looked at his officers. “I suppose the only question now is if you want these back?” he inquired as he held up their original badges in one hoof. “You did some good undercover work and I’d have no qualms about permanently assigning you to Criminal Investigations…once you pass the qualification exams.”

“Oh, no,” Judy said as she and her husband both reached out for their badges. “We’ve talked about this and Nick and I want more experience first. And after that mess getting back out on the beat would be more than welcome.”

The red fox nodded as he accepted his badge. “We’ve got to be able to walk before we can run, Chief. Maybe someday, but not yet.”

He didn’t show it, but a knot of pride formed in the cape buffalo’s chest as he watched the two mammals put their original shields in their pockets and set the replacements on his desk. They were correct for all the right reasons but knew that one day they’d make one of the finest sets of investigators the city had ever seen.

“Thanks!” Renee said as she waited for Judy and Nick to get down from the chair, gracing both with heartfelt embraces. “You won’t regret this, I promise!”

“You’ll do the uniform proud,” Judy commented as she smiled warmly, her arms tightening about the vixen. “And thanks for keeping Slick here out of trouble.”

One of Nick’s eyebrows went up as he smirked at his wife. “Really, Carrots? Kept me out of trouble?” He shook his head before reaching into his pocket for an envelope to pass to Renee. “And as for you, here’s the last of the money you were promised.”

The vixen held up her paws and indicated no. “Uh-uh. Maybe the old me would take it, but not the new me. I…I can’t take money for doing what’s right, you know?”

Nick and Judy shared a look before the red fox tossed the envelope back up to the Chief’s desk. “Guess you can put this back in the bank, Boss.”

“Or I can put it towards your proposal,” the buffalo said. “Now, I know that this is an emotional moment for everyone,” he told the mammals in his office. “But I don’t care. Take it somewhere else so I can get back to work.”

It was the cape buffalo’s standard reply for almost everything, but the tone and look on his face told the others that he did care. He cared very much. He cared when he first put on the uniform and hadn’t stopped caring since that day long ago. Nick and Judy chuckled before leading the others out, closing the door behind them. “Okay, you two are going to need a few things at the Academy, so let’s get going. You definitely want to stock up on soap and shampoo, and something loose and comfortable for when the day is done…”

Nick watched as his wife took the arms of the other two females and began to lead them out of the precinct building while Finnick joined his old friend. He looked up at the taller fox with a concerned expression. “My girl gonna be okay, Wilde? Can she do this?”

“She really can,” Nick replied with a nod, silently guiding the other fox in the wake of the coterie in front of them. “I’m not going to tell you not to worry because that would be pointless, but I want you to look down there,” he said as they drew to a stop at the top of the wide, winding staircase that led to the main reception area. “You see all of those mammals in blue? They’ll be keeping an eye on Chryssie. And you know that Carrots and I will be watching as well. We’ll do everything we can to make sure she comes home to you each night.”

The desert fox sighed. “If you’d told me last year that I’d be working for the city I’da clobbered you. Now I ain’t just doin’ that, but I’m hooked up with a girl that’s gonna be a cop.” He snorted derisively before the hint of a smile crossed his muzzle. “Life’s weird, huh?”

Nick nodded. “I don’t think that word quite covers it, but I agree.”

Finnick stood still for a moment longer and waited for the girls to make it to the main floor, none of them paying him or his friend any attention at all as they listened to Judy telling them about the Academy. He reached into his pocket and held out his paw. “You…you, uh, think she’ll like this?” he asked the other vulpine as he held up a simple gold ring with little chips of diamond cuts around half the band.

Nick’s eyes widened slightly. “Are you telling me that the notorious Finnick has found the one?” he asked with a grin beginning to split his muzzle. “The last of the great bachelors is getting ready to take the fall? I think the world might be coming to an end!”

“Piss off, Wilde!” the fennec snarled. “I just wanted your opinion, not to have you bust my chops!” 

Before the smaller fox could stomp away, Nick put his paw on his friend’s shoulder to stop him. “And that’s how I know you’re serious and nervous as hell to pop the question.” He nodded with a gleam in his emerald eyes. “I don’t think she’ll like it, Finn. I think she’ll love it. And she loves you. I’m going to ask that you let me and Judy find some earplugs before you propose. You know Chryssie’s going to make that high squeal of glee that’s enough to make sensitive ears bleed…”

Finnick’s own ears drooped. “I didn’t think about that…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little more to go!
> 
> And yes, we'll see Renee and Chryssie again, probably in uniform! At least that's the plan!!!


	16. Chapter 16

Finnick sighed as he looked out towards downtown, the buildings in the center of the city set afire with the last of the sun’s rays, buildings that were already in the deep shadows flickering with lights coming on. The bottle of beer in his paw was forgotten for the moment, the diminutive vulpine already missing his mate, though she’d only been gone for a few hours as she and the vixen that had helped his friends in the latest major case to rock the city began their first day as ZPD Academy cadets. He smiled ruefully as he thought about his present life.

Not all that long ago the police would have been something to avoid, to scoff at and confound as he and Nick plied their way in a morally grey area and fleeced other mammals out of their money. They’d lived questionable lives where the law was concerned. Now his best friend was a cop, and that alone was something that he never thought he’d see. The fennec himself was a children’s advocate, another event that he never contemplated. And his mate…that concept alone causing him no end of astonishment…was studying to become one of the mammals that stood between the citizens of Zootopia and those that would bring the city crashing down.

Condensation beaded on the surface of the brown glass bottle and dripped unnoticed onto the fox’s toes as he continued to stare at the urban landscape while one paw rubbed absently at the still healing scars on his abdomen. He’d followed the example of Nick and Judy and rejoined society and it had nearly cost him his life.

The really funny part of all of it was it had felt…good.

The looks of admiration, of gratitude on the girls’ faces that had been saved, the ones that had been found and reunited with their families, made Finnick realize that even he could make a difference for the better and it had felt good. He’d never had another mammal look at him that way. He was used to scorn, dismissal, indifference, but gratitude was something completely new and sobering.

The buzz of his phone drew his attention away from his ruminations and he slipped it out without really thinking about the action to see that Chryssie had sent him a quick text.

*Settling in. Call tomorrow. I love you! >^^<*

He quickly responded, unable to keep the smile from his muzzle.

Finnick never thought he’d hear those words from another mammal and they warmed him somewhere deep inside that he hadn’t known existed. The funny thing was when he said he loved his mate right back, he meant it and those simple little words just didn’t seem to encompass the feelings that he had for the tanuki.

“You’ll see her this weekend,” Judy said as she quietly stepped up to fox, a half smile on her muzzle that had finally returned to its proper grey and white coloration from where she’d bleached and dyed it for her undercover persona. “Ursula won’t be too rough on her and Renee until tomorrow,” she said with a grin that faded quickly at the sour look she got in return.

The fennec snorted. “It’s more’n that, fluffy,” he replied, his uncharacteristically deep voice flavored with a softness to it that was also uncharacteristic. “It’s…everything…” he said with a wave of his paw that vaguely indicated the city and the world beyond it. “Guess I never dealt with change all that good, you know?” Finn sighed heavily. “Ain’t even been half a day an’ I already miss her…”

Judy nodded as she leaned on the sill of the large window that they stood at, the panes opened for the cool evening air as Finnick disliked air conditioning having gone without the luxury for so many years. Looking at the two most important mammals in his life, Nick continued his dinner preparations, a smile teasing at his muzzle. He’d gone through something similar not that long ago himself, and the realization that life had drastically changed had thrown him for a loop. As the knife he was using split the zucchini into slivers before dumping them in a marinade of his own making, the red fox watched as the element for so much change in his and Finnick’s life comforted the smaller vulpine.

“You just had to show up and turn everything upside down, didn’tcha?” Finnick inquired with a gleam in his soft brown eyes as he regarded the bunny. When Judy opened her muzzle to respond, the desert fox chucked her lightly on the shoulder. “Don’t ‘pologize, fluffy. It’s for the best.” He sighed and took a long pull from his bottle. “All this…the stuff that happened…makes me wonder how many more there are out there waitin’ for us to find them.”

Nick dumped the veggies into a wok and gave them a quick stir before joining the other two. “Tell you what, little buddy,” he said as he cracked the tab on a blueberry soda. “You find them, we’ll get them out. One way or the other, we’ll save them.”

Finnick looked up with an enigmatic expression before his dazed expression faded to be replaced with one of determination, his smile almost feral. “You got that right,” Finnick agreed. “Here’s to doin’ what’s right,” he said as he hoisted his bottle.

“To making the world a better place,” Judy added with her own bottle clinking with the desert fox’s.

Nick smiled. “Here’s to us,” he quipped adding his can to the mix. 

They all drank, each knowing that their victory might have been substantial, but the struggle wasn’t over and it never would be, but they’d be there to meet the challenge, to go out each day and stand the line.

And they’d do it together, with old friends and new.

******************

Author’s ramblings…

I’ve been all over the world and I’ve seen things that I can’t explain, things that have stunned me, left me in awe, and a few that just astonished me to a point of being speechless. One of the things that has always infuriated me, however, is the whole concept of slavery. 

It exists.

It’s out there.

It’s happening every day.

It isn’t just some concept from history books, or something that happened ‘back when’. It’s happening now and it’s all over the world in nearly every country that exists in one form or another.

Some of it is forced labor, some of it…well, use your imagination, folks. The premise for this story was based in actual occurrences that go on every moment of every day. I’ve seen places where young girls are bought and sold like livestock and their fate is to be used like meat, given to others for moment’s pleasure, abused. Some are eventually killed. And it’s all done so others can make a profit.

Fortunately there are groups out there that do what they can to stop this heinous aspect of our world. That’s why, if you enjoyed this story, if it made you think, if it touched some part of you, go and look up the group ‘Love 146’. You might not be able to help them with the funding or materials that they need, but you can do something, even if it’s just spreading the word. Do what you can to help save a girl, to keep a life from being consumed by the darkness that exists. It might be time you can give, maybe little things like a care package, but the most important thing is making others aware that this is a problem that can be fought against. 

Awareness is a powerful weapon against those that profit from trafficking in misery.

In doing so, you become a light in the darkness, a beacon of hope, and where there’s hope, there’s life.

Thank you all for reading.

Selaxes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it. Need I honestly say more?

**Author's Note:**

> So, this one certainly isn't as fluffalicious as 'New Directions', but it is a story centered around something that is important to me. If you have trouble with darker stories, angst, and implied sexual abuse, I really recommend that you don't go any further.
> 
> And now, on to the next chapter...


End file.
